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Bruins host Lightning in battle of first-place teams

Mar 3, 2011 - 4:46 PM (Sports Network) - A pair of first-place teams will battle for the Eastern Conference's second seed tonight, when the Boston Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden.

Boston enters tonight's tilt tied with Tampa for the second seed in the East, as the Bruins and Lightning each have 81 points and identical 37-19-7 records this season.

The Bruins, who also lead Montreal by six points for first place in the Northeast Division, have rattled off a season-high six straight victories after putting together a perfect six-game road trip.

The B's are now home for two games, as they are also scheduled to host Pittsburgh on Saturday. Boston is just 15-12-3 as the host this season compared to a 22-7-4 mark on the road.

Boston is also on its first six-game winning streak since March 22-April 4, 2009. The B's last won seven straight contests during a 10-game streak earlier that season from Dec. 12, 2008-Jan 1, 2009.

The Bruins completed their road trip with Tuesday's 1-0 victory in Ottawa. Tuukka Rask made 33 saves to record his second shutout of the season and Nathan Horton supplied the game's lone goal for Boston.

After 40 scoreless minutes, Horton snapped the deadlock 1:43 into the third period. Adam McQuaid fired a shot from the point that Brad Marchand deflected on goal. Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson made the save, but Horton slammed home the rebound for his third goal in as many games.

"We have so many great players on our team and so much talent," Horton said.

It's unclear if Rask will get a third straight start tonight or if Boston will go back to Tim Thomas. Rask has won his last four starts and head coach Claude Julien has been taking advantage of the Finnish goaltender's hot streak in order to give No. 1 backstop Tim Thomas some rest.

The Bruins have taken two of three from the Lightning this year and have won five of eight overall in the series. Tampa Bay has also lost four of five and seven of nine in Boston and the Bruins recorded an 8-1 blowout victory the last time the clubs met in Beantown on Dec. 2.

The Lightning failed to get a point Wednesday night in New Jersey, as the Devils halted Tampa's three-game win streak with a 2-1 decision at the Prudential Center. Ilya Kovalchuk gave New Jersey the game-winner when he snapped a 1-1 tie with 9:50 left in the third period.

Dominic Moore scored the lone goal for Tampa and Dwayne Roloson made 25 stops in a losing effort.

"We had a lot of opportunities in the first and second periods that we didn't take advantage of," said Tampa Bay head coach Guy Boucher.

Roloson could get his fifth straight start for the Lightning tonight. The 41- year-old has a 5-2-2 record and 1.97 goals-against average in nine career games against Boston.