Stanley Cup Playoffs, day fifteen: Last two games of first round

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs comes to an end tonight as the Montreal Canadiens visit the Boston Bruins while the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both series have been back and forth, with Boston losing the first two games at home, then winning the next three before losing game six last night. Tampa Bay meanwhile, lost game one, blew out Pittsburgh in game two, lost games three and four, blew out Pittsburgh again in game five before pulling out game six.

Milan Lucic, who received a game misconduct in game six, will play for Boston tonight. Also, according to Ian Mendes, Zdeno Chara has never won a seventh game in his career, having lost with Ottawa in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and in 2008, 2009 and 2010 with Boston. Time to end the streak tonight Zdeno, those police cars in Montreal aren't going to burn themselves! It should be a close game tonight, all six games have been decided by two goals or less.

In the other game, the Tampa Bay Lightning will attempt to complete a remarkable comeback from 3-1 down in the series. Steven Stamkos has only four points in the series, with three of them coming in the game five rout. In their game six win, neither Stamkos nor Martin St. Louis registered a point. Now I will admit, this is one series that has failed to interest me. But go Tampa!

Lastly, Robin Lehner and the Binghamton Senators will also play tonight, opening their second round series against the Portland Pirates. With Buffalo's elimination last night, Portland is getting some help from its parent club. Per Joy Lindsay, the lines for Binghamton will be Z. Smith-Potulny-Keller, Greening-Locke-Butler, Daugavins-O'Brien-Condra, Hoffman-Dziurzynski-Wick. Locke is a game time decision but should play.

I think the Penguins and Bruins will win, but I hope the Lightning and Bruins win. What about you? Come on in and join us!