Tampa Bay at Ottawa

Tampa Bay wishes it were 2004 all over again. They took home the last Stanley Cup and a repeat here is all but guaranteed not to happen. Not when they have to go to Ottawa to face one of the best teams in the East. Ottawa held opponents to a conference-low 183 goals during the regular season. They own the Lightning having won 18 of the last 21 in the matchup including eight straight. Tampa Bay barely made the playoffs and their defense is horrible for a playoff team. They allowed 3.2 goals per game on the season and limped into the playoffs losing four of their last five games, getting beaten in those games by an average of 2 goals per game (2.6 to 4.6)! Ottawa beat opponents by an average score of 4.0 to 2.3 at home this season. Lay the heavy wood on the motivated, much better team here.