The Tampa Bay Lightning’s mini home stand continues with a matchup against the Boston Bruins scheduled for later tonight. The Lightning, fresh off two straight wins, are looking to continue their recent success against the Bruins at the Tampa Bay Times Forum; they won both contests at home last season.

After their impressive 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Tampa Bay Lightning moved into a tie with the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the Southeast Division. Currently in 8th place in the East, the Lightning have a great shot to move into sole possession of first place with a good performance tonight against the always feisty Bruins.

For their part, the Bruins aren’t going to make reaching the top of the Southeast easy for the Lightning. Currently 9-2-2, the Bruins have once again established themselves as the crème de la crème in the Eastern Conference. With incredibly solid goaltending, a hole-less defense, and a well-rounded group up front, the Bruins arguably pose the Lightning’s biggest challenge so far this year. Simply put – the Lightning are going to have their hands full.

Over the last few weeks, the Lightning have fallen victim to a number of lackluster efforts. To the casual observer, the scoreboard and stat sheet don’t indicate such, but the reality is that the Lightning have struggled to put up a complete sixty minute effort on a consistent basis. That can’t happen tonight. To beat, or even compete with the Bruins, the Lightning are going to need a full sixty minute effort.

Luckily for the Bolts, offensive superstar Steven Stamkos seems to have rediscovered his scoring touch. After a rough couple of weeks, Stamkos has scored three goals in his last two games. Add to Stamkos’ resurgence the fact that Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier continue to be offensive leaders on the team, and things are start to shape up fairly nicely.

Of course, as good as it has been, the Lightning’s offense will have a tough time getting past the Bruins’ ridiculously stingy defense. To be blunt – this could be a chess match between two teams that employ competing styles.

Anders Lindback is scheduled to get the start in net for the Lightning after one of his better performances against the Maple Leafs. For the Bruins, Tuukka Rask, who is 3-0-1 in his last four starts, is expected to get the call.

Also of note, tonight’s contest marks Benoit Pouliot’s first contest against the team he played with and had success with last season. So far this season, Pouliot has been a pleasant surprise for Steve Yzerman and company. Signed to a one year $1.8M contract in the off-season, Pouliot has put up five goals and 13 points through 15 games to start this year. His ability to move up and down the lineup as needed has established him as a Mr. Everything for the Lightning.

With so much on the line for both teams, this contest should be a good one. The Lightning have looked relatively good on home ice to start the season, and you can bet that the Bruins will be looking to prove that they are in fact the Eastern Conference’s elite team. After the Eastern Conference Final match-up between these two teams just two short seasons ago, contests between the Bruins and Lightning have just been that much better.

Enjoy it, and thanks for reading!

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