Leading 2-1 in their best-of-seven series, the Boston Bruins will look to deliver the dagger to the title hopes of the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday afternoon at St. Pete Times Forum (1:30 p.m. EDT; TV/Radio: NBC/WBZ-FM).
With a win, the Bruins would take a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 series lead heading back to Boston for Game 5 on Monday evening.
Boston, which has won the last two games of the series after dropping the series opener, has been spurred on by solid goaltending from veteran Tim Thomas, who has made 450 saves on 483 shots (33 goals allowed) in 14 postseason games.
Tyler Seguin has also provided a major boost for the Bruins, totaling three goals and three assists in the series so far. Seguin, who made his NHL Playoff debut in Game 1 of the series, scored one goal and had an assist in the loss.
However, Seguin burst onto the scene in Game 2, finishing with two goals and two assists, but he did not record a single point in Boston's Game 2 victory.
Nathan Horton leads the Bruins in points this postseason with 13 (six goals, seven assists) while Patrice Bergeron, who missed the first two games of the series recovering from a concussion, is second in points with 12 (two goals, 10 assists). David Krejci leads Boston in postseason goals with seven and also has five assists.
Tampa Bay, which had won eight straight playoff games prior to their loss in Game 2, has been led by paced by the solid play of Martin St. Louis, who has seven goals and nine assists in 14 games this postseason.
Vincent Lecavalier also has 16 points on six goals and 10 assists and Teddy Purcell has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) for the Lightning. Sean Bergenheim leads the team in playoff goals with eight and has two assists.
In the regular season, the Lightning boasted a record of 15-11-5 at St. Pete Times Forum while the Bruins were 24-12-5 on the road this season, but has won five of six games on the road in the playoffs.