When the Boston Bruins acquired defenseman Tomas Kaberle from Toronto and Chris Kelly from Ottawa they really gave their team two players who I had figured could guarantee this already talented team some real playoff success this year. The Tampa Bay Lightning were a team on the rise last year and I expected them to make the playoffs but not the Conference Final? With Disney on Ice scheduled at the same time as their home games maybe the Lightning weren’t sure either?

Tim Thomas is the most important player on either squad. Both teams can score goals, both teams have comparable defenses but Thomas can be a better goalie than Tampa’s Dwayne Roloson, and if he is, they should be Stanley Cup bound.

Tampa has a terrific power play featuring Steve Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier and Simon Gagne when healthy, that’s pretty lethal. Now will Gagne play? He says he is ready to go and he has always been a playoff sniper so this is a big plus for Tampa. As we all know, even with Kaberle, Boston’s power play has been bad so if Tampa wants to win they have to draw penalties and beat Boston on the power play.

Boston’s David Krejci has been their best scorer and Milan Lucic might just be getting warmed up. If that happens this could make up for the loss of Patrice Bergeron, who might not be replaceable in the face-off circle. If they can survive and get him back by Game 3, as expected, that could be a huge lift for the team.

As I said earlier this series will come down to goaltending and I think Boston has the slight edge. If Boston can get under Steve Downie’s skin, which isn’t hard to do, they can get a few extra power plays and if they can get any kind of points that way it would be huge.

Prediction: Boston in 6

Thomas-Roloson back story as told by the Bruins backstop:

“As far as the Dwayne Roloson thing, originally, when I graduated from high school, I wasn't recruited by any college. I had to go down to juniors, and I made that team as the third goalie. I won't even get into that. But the next summer I was recruited by UMASS Lowell and Michigan Tech. Both those teams had juniors that were returning as seniors. Jamie Ramm at Michigan Tech and Dwayne Roloson at UMASS Lowell. Basically both coaches were upfront. They told me they wanted me to go to their schools, but if I did, I'd play three games max.

“So when Vermont called, they were the only school that at the told me if I went there I had a chance to play right away. I'd have to earn it. They weren't promising it or guaranteeing it. It would be a trial between me and the two goalies they had that were juniors. But I had the opportunity. So I chose not to go to UMASS Lowell because of Dwayne Roloson, basically. It changed everything.”

Side Note: The “Disney on Ice” booking is a bit strange to hockey fans. I’m sure these kinds of events are booked well in advance but you would think that they would have booked a bit lighter this month in case they were to play some playoff games. Did they expect to make it this far? Maybe not, or maybe they were trying to hedge their bets. Either way the ECF will start tomorrow without a hitch in Boston and the Tampa games weren’t affected because they cancelled five of the ice skating performances.

Saturday, May 14 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Tuesday, May 17 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. VERSUS, TSN, RDS
Thursday, May 19 at Tampa Bay, 8:00 p.m. VERSUS, TSN, RDS
Saturday, May 21 at Tampa Bay, 1:30 p.m. NBC, TSN, RDS
*Monday, May 23 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Wednesday, May 25 at Tampa Bay, 8:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Friday, May 27 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS

*photo courtesy of Joe del Tufo.