Tampa Bay Lightning vs Boston Bruins 8/29/20 - NHL Picks & Predictions

Last Updated: 08/28/2020 at 4:06 PM ET

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Boston Bruins 8/29/20 - NHL Picks & Predictions

The Tampa Bay Lightning play Game 4 of their NHL Eastern Conference semifinals best-of-seven series on Friday against the Boston Bruins. Tampa Bay leads the series 2-1 following a 7-1 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday. Alex Killorn, Mikhail Sergachez and Ondrej Palat each scored goals on the power play for Tampa Bay in the 6-goal rout of the Bruins.

During the postseason, center Brayden Points is the leader in goals scored with six and in points with 15. Right winger Nikita Kucherov is the leader in assists with 10. Blake Coleman has a team-high 21 minutes in penalties. In goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy is 8-3 with a goals against average of 2.06 and a .924 save percentage.

Boston must bounce back with a victory in Game 4 or be put on the brink of elimination by Tampa Bay.  Brad Marchand scored the only goal of the game for Boston on a power play early in the second period. However, at that time the Bruins were already behind 3-0. Starting goalie Jaroslav Halak was replaced by Dan Vlader, who is just 23 and was making his playoff debut in the NHL. Halak made 12 saves before being replaced.

Left winger Brad Marchand is leading Boston in goals scored with seven and in points with 12. Center David Kregci is the leader in assists with seven. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy has a team-high 24 minutes in penalties. In goal, Jaroslav Halak is 4-3 with a goals against average of 2.91 and a save percentage of .903.

Boston faces a must-win situation in Game 4 as the Bruins cannot afford to trail 3-1 against such a tough opponent like Tampa Bay. However, Boston has lost its No. 1 goaltender Tuukka Rask who opted out of the season and backup Jaroslav Halak has not played well in net as evidenced by a 2.91 goals against average during the postseason. Tampa Bay has dominated this matchup winning 13 of the last 16. Final Score Prediction, Tampa Bay Lightning wins 5-3.