Previewing the Eastern Conference Final

The Pittsburgh Penguins reached the Eastern Conference Final by defeating the top-seeded Washington Capitals in six games in the second round. It was Pittsburgh’s eighth Stanley Cup Playoff series win against their Metropolitan Division rival in nine tries.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, who eliminated the New York Islanders in five games in the second round, are not as familiar to the Penguins. The teams have played each other once in the postseason, in 2011, when Tampa Bay defeated Pittsburgh in seven games in a first-round series.

The Lightning won all three games this season against the Penguins, but they haven’t faced each other since Feb. 20.

There will be plenty of intrigue as the Penguins, who haven’t played in the Stanley Cup Final since 2009, look to get past the 2015 Eastern Conference champions. Tampa Bay forward Steven Stamkos, who has not played in the postseason because of a blood clot, could return in this round, potentially adding another big name to a series that already has Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop.

FORWARDS

Penguins: Pittsburgh won its second-round series against Washington despite getting one goal between Crosby and Malkin. Crosby had two assists in the series, and Malkin had a goal and an assist but was shut out in the final four games.

The Penguins prevailed because of their forward depth, something they have sorely lacked in the recent past. Pittsburgh can roll four lines and get production from them all.

The third line of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel combined for 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) against Washington. Each scored (Kessel had two goals) in the Penguins’ 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6. Bonino scored the winner off assists from Kessel and Hagelin. Fourth-line center Matt Cullen scored a big goal for the Penguins in Game 4, and Cullen’s linemate, Tom Kuhnhackl, scored in Game 3.

Eric Fehr, who has been playing on the second line with Malkin and Chris Kunitz, scored the winning goal in Game 2. Patric Hornqvist, on the top line with Crosby and Conor Sheary, scored two goals, including in overtime in Game 4.

Lightning: Tampa Bay got secondary scoring in the second round against New York after relying heavily on the top line of Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov in the first round against the Detroit Red Wings. Coach Jon Cooper moved Ondrej Palat up at times to play with Johnson and Kucherov, reuniting “The Triplets,” and had Killorn on a line with Jonathan Drouin and Valtteri Filppula.

The move didn’t hurt Kucherov, who scored four goals in the series, and it helped the other lines get involved. Drouin scored the first NHL playoff goal of his career, the winner in Game 2, and had four more assists to give him eight in the postseason. The third and fourth lines also contributed; Brian Boyle had two goals, and Vladislav Namestnikov and Ryan Callahan each had a goal and an assist. Tampa Bay’s depth at forward proved to be valuable; Erik Condra sustained an upper-body injury in the first period of Game 1, and J.T. Brown was unavailable the entire series because of an upper-body injury.

The health of Stamkos is a major storyline heading into this series. He has not played since March 31 and had surgery April 4 to treat a blot clot near his right collarbone.

Stamkos, who had 36 goals in 77 regular-season games, has been practicing with the Lightning in a no-contact jersey and said that he would be ready to play as soon as he is cleared by team doctors and taken off blood thinners.

DEFENSEMEN

Penguins: Pittsburgh proved how deep it is on defense in a 3-2 win in Game 4 against Washington, when they had to play without Kris Letang (suspension) and Olli Maatta (injury). Letang played 34:02 in Game 1 and 35:22 in Game 2. Maatta was his defense partner until he was injured on Brooks Orpik’s high hit early in Game 2 that drew a penalty for interference.

Trevor Daley picked up a lot of Letang’s minutes, playing 28:41 and scoring a goal. Brian Dumoulin had two assists in 22:10 of ice …

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