©  2108 Jordan Long  Sports-Scoop.com | Sports with Attitude The Boston Bruins survived the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 7 games in the series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The score in game 7 was 7 to 4. The difference was the 3rd period where the Bruins lit the lamp 4 times. They move on to the 2nd– round to take on the Tampa Bay Lightening. The series starts tomorrow in Tampa Bay. The Boston Bruins were lucky to knock off Toronto. They were leading the series 3-1 and let Toronto win the next 2 to force a game 7. Boston is looking to make a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2013 when they went to the Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins and the Lightening squared off 4 times this year. The Bruins skated off with a 3-1 record in the regular season. Tampa Bay avoided a season sweep by beating the Bruins on April 3rd, 4-0. The Bruins in this series must keep the offense going. Against Toronto, they averaged 4.00 goals per game. They have the

©  2108 Jordan Long  Sports-Scoop.com | Sports with Attitude The Boston Bruins lead the best of 7 series over the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1.   The Bruins won games 1 and 2 handily, outscoring the Maple Leafs 12-4. Of course, that was at home in Boston. In game 3 the Maple Leafs needed a victory and were the better team. They came away with a 4-2 win. Game 4 is tomorrow night. The Bruins must play better in the neutral zone. They were unable to poke check the puck away from the Maple Leafs allowing Toronto to have scoring chances. The Bruins were lucky only 4 goals went in. It could have been much worse. Tuukka Rask saved them time and time again. The Bruins must convert on power play chances. On the road they were 0-1. If they had scored, it could have turned the game around. On the other hand, the Bruins didn’t kill off their only penalty of the night and the Maple Leafs made them pay. When the Bruins have their opportunity on the power play, set it up. They have one of the hard

©  2108 Jordan Long  Sports-Scoop.com | Sports with Attitude   The Boston Bruins have their 1 st -round matchup for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. They will face the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins had trouble with this team in the regular season going 1-2-1. The series starts on Thursday. The Bruins have home ice advantage in this series which should help. They were an impressive 28-8-5 at home.   If this series goes to a game 7, at least Boston would play at home which could help them advance. The Bruins are going to be tough to beat because of their ability to score. During the regular season they averaged 3.26 goals per game, 6 th in the NHL. David Pastrnak leads the team with 35 goals. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron also went over the 30-goal mark this season. The skaters must score early and often. The Maple Leafs are going to have to figure a way to shut them down. It won’t be easy because of the Bruins' speed. Boston plays decent

©  2108 Jordan Long  Sports-Scoop.com | Sports with Attitude The Boston Bruins are 47-17-11 for 105 points and are 2 nd place in the Atlantic Division. Even though this year isn’t done, the Bruins are looking ahead to next season. Defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara agreed to a 1-year extension. This will pay him a base salary of $5 million and adds another $1.75 million with incentives. His current contract runs out at the end of the season. Chara has been the top defenseman for the Boston Bruins. His size at 6-foot 9-inches allows him to check opponents off the puck and block shots in the defensive zone.  On the offensive zone, he creates power with his slap shot to score goals and is the quarterback on the power play.  In his career Chara has scored 195 goals and added 432 assists for a total of 627 points. 92 of those goals are with the man advantage. This season Chara has played well for the Bruins with 7 goals and 16 assists for total of 23 points.