Do Bruins or Lightning need a Game 2 win more?
Over the last handful of years, the Atlantic Division has been largely ruled by a group of four teams: the Florida Panthers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Boston Bruins. This season, the Panthers had an injury-plagued down year and missed the playoffs, and, well, we don’t need to talk about the Leafs. That leaves the Lightning and the Bruins as the remaining playoff teams among those four, but if they don’t get things turned around quickly in their first-round series’, their seasons won’t last much longer than Florida’s or Toronto’s.
Boston and Tampa Bay are both coming off agonizing Game 1 losses. The Bruins blew a 2-0 lead late in the third period, falling by a score of 4-3 to the Buffalo Sabres. The Lightning, meanwhile, dropped an overtime thriller to the Montreal Canadiens by an identical 4-3 score.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed whether the Bruins or the Lightning are more desperate for a Game 2 victory.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Between Boston, who blew that 2-0 lead in the third period against Buffalo in Game 1, or Tampa Bay, which one of those two needs a Game 2 bounce back the most?
Carter Hutton: I think Tampa Bay. I think in the style that they lost that game, I would consider them in a pressure situation. The Sabres I still consider green, I still think if the Bruins lose they can come back and play at home with Jeremy Swayman. I just don’t know if we give Tampa a little bit too much love. I think if Montreal goes up 2-0, the amount of confidence this younger group is going to have, then you’re going to go to the Bell Centre where it’s going to be absolutely insane. I think they learned a lot last year from playing in that Washington series and letting the momentum get the best of them after that Tom Wilson hit.
I think Montreal right now is in the driver’s seat. If they find a way to win this game after the response from going down 3-2, fighting back, finding a way to win in overtime against the almighty Lightning, I just think there’s so much internal confidence that gets built in this team. Montreal’s the team where I feel like if they go up 2-0, it’s a stranglehold.
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Tuesday’s episode here…