The Stanley Cup Finals continue tonight with the series shifting east as the Boston Bruins host the Chicago Blackhawks for Game 3. Tonight's game is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on NBC. Currently the odds for the game have the Bruins favored to take a lead in the series.
Boston was able to march into Chicago for the opening two games of this series and got what they needed to have — a split. Both games went into the overtime session and 10-plus periods have been played to this point already. But now they'll have to hold home ice advantage over the Blackhawks, who will have the same goal as Boston did the opening two games, just get a split.
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask has played very well in this series to this point, despite allowing five goals total in the first two games. But then again, that's taken place during 10 periods of ice time and he has faced a whole lot of shots from the Blackhawks. He's stopped 92 shots so far in just two games for this Finals appearance, making 59 in the opener and 33 more in Game 2.
Tyler Seguin had the team hash it all out in the locker room after the first period of Game 2, trying to get his team to figure out that they were getting destroyed by the Blackhawks in nearly every aspect of the game. They went on to bring their game up a notch and the Bruins were able to pick up the win. Seguin and his team will be looking to take advantage tonight at home, where they went 16-5-3 during the regular season and have played extremely well in the playoffs.
Milan Lucic has seemed to get into the heads of Chicago stars Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp. Lucic is a very physical forward and also has been a very good weapon for the Bruins offensively. Corey Crawford hasn't played poorly in net for Chicago during the series but better bring his best game tonight, because the Bruins are going to be juiced up with their home crowd and a chance to take a major hold on this series. That all has to start with a win tonight in a very pivotal Game 3.
If the Bruins are able to win tonight, Chicago will automatically be in must-win mode. They can't drop the next two games to Boston without losing some confidence, so expect them to play a very good game tonight. But in the end we like the Bruins to pick up the win. This one's not going to overtime.
Free Pick: Boston 3, Chicago 1
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