5 things to know about the Tampa Bay Lightning

Now that the Bruins have survived their first-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, prevailing in a wild Game 7 at TD Garden Wednesday night, it’s time for the Black and Gold to turn their attention to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Bruins will open the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon. That they would even have to begin the series on the road did not seem likely one month ago, when the Bruins defeated Tampa Bay twice in two weeks by a combined score of 7-2 and took over first place in the Atlantic Division on March 29.

But the road to the top seed turned bumpy, as the Bruins closed out the regular season by going 1-3-1 in their last five, losing twice to a Florida Panthers team that did not make the playoffs. The final defeat came in the last game of the regular season, with the Bruins needing a win to clinch home ice throughout the playoffs.

So, with Saturday’s puck drop set for 3 p.m. at Amalie Arena, here’s a look at what the Bruins are up against.

The Lightning are a confident bunch

Going into the final week of the season, it seemed the Bruins had Tampa Bay’s number, having won all three meetings. But the Lightning defeated the Bruins convincingly on April 3 to pull even in the standings, turning the tables against a Boston squad that had dominated them.

They carried that over into the playoffs against a New Jersey Devils team that swept all three regular-season meetings. The Lightning won the first-round series, four games to one, and will have gone a full week between games when they open against the Bruins Saturday.

They have the edge in net

After seeing his numbers dip a bit in the second half of the season, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy bounced back and recorded 33 saves in Tampa Bay’s 4-0 win over the Bruins April 3. The 23-year-old goalie may have been fatigued, having played a career-high 65 games, 64 of them starts. Vasilevskiy still managed to finish 44-17-3 with a .920 save percentage and appears to be back on track. Against the Devils, the Vezina finalist stopped 159 of 169 shots, good for a .941 save percentage.

It was believed that Tuukka Rask would be well-rested coming into the postseason. He made 53 starts and appeared in 54 games, the least amount of playing time he’s seen since the 2012-13 season. Yet his .899 save percentage so far is the worst of his career in the postseason.

Their top line is good. Really good.

Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and J.T. Miller scored seven of Tampa Bay’s 18 goals in the first round, with Kucherov scoring all five of his goals at even strength. Kucherov was one of just three players to register 100 points this season, scoring 39 goals to go with 61 assists. Stamkos had 27 goals and 59 assists, finishing 1 point ahead of Brad Marchand (34 goals, 51 assists).

Rask and the Boston defense looked worn down toward the end of the series against Toronto, but bounced back late in Game 7. Charlie McAvoy had his best game of the series and will be tasked along with Zdeno Chara with trying to stop Tampa Bay’s top line, while Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, Matt Grzelcyk, and Adam McQuaid also will be on alert.

Their defense can be suspect

Tampa Bay allowed 34.2 shots per game in the first round, but benefited from the strong play of Vasilevskiy in net. (The Bruins allowed an average of 28 shots against the Maple Leafs). Victor Hedman leads the Lightning defense, along with trade-deadline acquisition Ryan McDonagh.

Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, and Marchand combined for 30 points in the first round and will look to exploit the Tampa Bay blue liners. But the Bruins will need offense from the rest of the team as well, and would welcome more efforts like the one Jake DeBrusk put forth in Game 7.

Bruins have the edge on special teams

Both teams can score on the power play, with the Lightning converting 23.9 percent of the time, good enough for third-best in the league and one spot above the Bruins, who converted 23.6 percent of the time. It’s the penalty kill where the Bruins seem to have the clear advantage, killing off 83.7 percent of the power plays they faced, the third-best mark in the league.

The Lightning’s penalty kill percentage of 76.1 puts them near the bottom of the league at 28th.