NHL postseason quick hits: Eastern Conference Final

Postseason Vitals
Pittsburgh: 8-3-0 in 11 games in the playoffs
Tampa Bay: 8-2-0 in 10 games in the playoffs

History of the Matchup
The Lightning defeated the Penguins in a seven-game first-round series in 2011, their only time meeting in the playoffs. During the 2015-16 regular season, the Bolts won the three-game series.

Squad Similarities Through the Playoffs
Depth, on both offense and defense.

Both teams got to the conference final thanks to secondary scoring. Pittsburgh only got one goal between Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in Round 2, and Tampa Bay is still without Steven Stamkos, (not that that stopped the well-known Triplets Line from finding the back of the net.)

Both the Bolts and Pens also have two-way defensemen in their lineups, with Trevor Daley and Victor Hedman finding the back of the net for their respective teams.

Difference Makers
This series will come down to the goaltending matchup. Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop looked abysmal in the Bolts’ 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders in the first game of Round 2 but appeared to have fully gotten his groove back when he shut out the Isles in Game 5.

On the other side of the ice, the Pens are expected to keep starting rookie netminder Matt Murray, who has become quite the story since setting the tone for Pittsburgh’s second-round battle with the Washington Capitals.

What to Watch For
Both teams will be looking to be better in the special teams battle. While both have been solid on the kill, the Pens are only 27.5 percent successful on the man advantage, with the Lightning an even more lackluster 16.3 percent. A power-play goal or two could be what shifts the momentum in this series.

Quotables
"We're going to keep them off the score sheet as much as possible, but you know that they've got too much skill over there to shut them out every single game. It's just going to be important to try to limit it. And obviously they're going to have some opportunities, and we just have to stop them as often as possible." —Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop, via NHL.com