The Eastern conference finals will begin on Saturday night as the Boston Bruins will be the road team as they meet in Game 1 of their best of seven NHL playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a pro hockey contest. Face off time from Pittsburgh is scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by NBC.
The NHL playoff odds from game one have the home team Pittsburgh Penguins favored by -169 odds with the take back on the road underdog Boston Bruins at +159 odds. The goal total is set at 5 ½ goals.
The Penguins and Bruins met three times during the lockout shortened year with Pittsburgh winning all three games in regulation. All three games were one goal decisions. In mid-March the Penguins posted a 3-2 and 2-1 home victory against Boston. They met on April 20th in Boston with the Penguins posting the 3-2 road victory. No game went over the posted total of 5 ½ goals in each regular season meeting.
Boston opened up the playoffs by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. The Bruins failed in two closeout chances as they took a 3-1 lead and allowed Toronto to tie it at 3-3. A memorable third period comeback by Boston allowed the Bruins to post the game seven 5-4 home overtime victory against the Maple Leafs to advance into the second round.
In the Eastern conference semifinals it was Boston defeating the New York Rangers in five games as they opened up a 3-0 lead in their series. Boston earns the 3-1 home victory last Saturday against the Rangers to advance into the Eastern conference finals as a -160 betting odds favorite. The game finished under five goals. New York drew first blood at 10:39 as Daniel Girardi scored on the power play. Boston then scored the final three goals and sealed it with an empty net goal by Gregory Campbell at 19:09 of the third period for the win. Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask has a goal against average of 2.22 in the playoffs.
Pittsburgh opened up the first round of the playoffs by defeating the New York Islanders in six games as they had to rally two win two straight with the series tied at 2-2. They drew the Ottawa Senators in the second round and the Penguins had little trouble as they advance in five games. In their four wins the team averaged over 5 goals per game. They win game four 7-3 and in the series clincher it was Pittsburgh with another blowout win this time by the score of 6-2 in game five. Goalie Tomas Vokoun has a goal against of 1.85 in the playoffs in his seven games since taking over the number one position from Marc Andre Fleury. Defenseman Kris Letang leads the club with 16 points in the post season.
