Bruins will play Lightning in Eastern Conference Second Round

The Boston Bruins advanced to the Eastern Conference Second Round and will play the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Boston defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-4 in Game 7 of the first round Wednesday.
RELATED: [Complete Lightning vs. Bruins series coverage]
"Well, it's going to be a battle," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said. "[The Lightning] were a top team all year. They compete very hard, have a ton of skill, and they have a lot of depth. So we'll look at them a little bit more in the next few days, but we're going to enjoy this one tonight."
Tampa Bay defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-1 on Saturday to end that first-round series in five games.
"Well, they've had some time to rest, and if they had any injuries, probably get a little healthier," Boston coach Bruce Casssidy said. "But that's the advantage of winning in five. If we had of done the same thing, then we would have that advantage as well.
"But for us, I guess going into it ... we are battle-tested now, and we've got to bring that mentality into the next round."
The Lightning have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series and will host Game 1 on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS).
"They're really good teams, you can see the competitive level of both of them, especially as [the series] got close to the end," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said before knowing its opponent. "So regardless of who we play, it's going to be tough."
The Bruins lost only the last of four games against the Lightning this season, 4-0 on April 3, which kept Boston from finishing first in the Atlantic Division and having home-ice advantage in this series. A 4-2 win March 29 and a 3-0 win on March 17 were among its victories.
"As far as seeing them the last, I think three times in the last month, that will clearly help our preparation," Cassidy said. "So that's the one positive. We're familiar with their players. … We've played them well; I think our guys will be confident in that end. Listen, two good teams again. We've just got to be ready. … Enjoy the win tonight, decompress tomorrow, and then let's get back on the ice Friday and get ready to go and do what we have to do to prepare for Tampa [Bay]."
Torey Krug led Boston with six points (one goal, five assists), and Brad Marchand had five (one goal, four assists) against Tampa Bay. David Pastrnak and Riley Nash each scored twice. Tuukka Rask was 3-1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.

Tampa Bay, which led the NHL in goals (290), scored eight in the four games against Boston. J.T. Miller and Victor Hedman each scored twice for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy was 1-3-0 with a 2.30 GAA and .928 save percentage.
"Everybody knows how important this time of year is, but we had two days off just because of how the schedule worked," forward Chris Kunitz told the Lightning website. "We've got to make sure we come to work every day and try to keep that tempo and pace high, because every time in playoffs it seems to get harder and faster and more difficult to execute during a game because everything's just elevated and the pressure of the game and the time of the game and what's important."
The Bruins defeated the Lightning in seven games in the 2011 Eastern Conference Final, their only playoff series against each other. Boston went on to win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.
"We can't roll right into the series," Cooper said. "... The forcing of a Game 7 kind of changed our plans a little bit. ... Now that's been pushed back and gives us a little more time to regroup as a staff and just try and be really thorough on who our next opponent will be."
NHL.com correspondents Matt Kalman and Corey Long contributed to this report.