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Game 2 - posted at 12:20 PM EST.

7:30 PM EST. OT included. What happened to the Lightning in Game 1 was precisely what GM Steve Yzerman feared when he was desperate to acquire the best defenseman available at the trade deadline. Unfortunately for Yzerman and the Bolts, the best defenseman available was Ryan McDonagh and the Rangers took full advantage of a desperate GM.   

The Lightning acquired Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller in a trade from the New York Rangers for center Vladislav Namestnikov, prospects Libor Hajek, a defenseman, and Brett Howden, a forward, along with their first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft and a conditional first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. If Yzerman could reverse that trade, he would in two seconds flat.

In Game 1, McDonagh had a plus/minus rating of -3. That’s only a fraction of the story of what transpired in the opening game of this series. The Lightning got a massive break when Tuukaa Rask broke his skate blade, thus rendering him immobile, and the Lightning were able to bury a puck into an open net to turn a 3-1 deficit in half but Boston put it away early in the third.  The other thing that transpired is exactly what we envisioned when we discussed the Bolts suspect defense. That weak group could not get the puck out of their own zone. In fact, it was so bad that Coach Jon Cooper had his team working on getting the puck out of its zone over and over and over Sunday during an hour-long practice that one beat reporter described as spirited, up-tempo and intense. That’s nice but it doesn’t change the fact that the Bolts defense is a liability that they will not be able to overcome.

The Lightning did not have an answer for the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line that produced 11 points. Nor did it find a way to beat goalie Tuukka Rask, who was not particularly sharp during the Bruins' seven-game first-round series against the Maple Leafs. The B’s first line is the primary concern for any team and so Jon Cooper tried to counter with his trio of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point but Cooper’s plan fell apart. In order to stop the Bruins relentless attack, a team needs strong defense and Tampa, Like Toronto, does not have that luxury, which is why Boston plus a tag against anyone remains a great value play.

Note: We’re skipping the Vegas/Sharks late game because San Jose is favored and we don’t want to lay juice but in terms of value, the Sharks would be the play here. You see, in this evenly matched series, Vegas was -200 at home but San Jose is only -130 at home. That is incorrect and while the Sharks are very tempting, we do not spot more than -120 on any sporting event and we’re sticking with that philosophy here.

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