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Bruins look to improve playoff position

Feb 23, 2008 - 2:50 PM Boston (31-23-6) at Tampa Bay (25-29-7) 7:30 pm EST

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) - The Boston Bruins are in the middle of a scrum at the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Tampa Bay Lightning are just at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins will be looking to improve their precarious playoff positioning when they visit the Lightning on Saturday.

Boston currently sits in sixth place based on wins, but is tied with Buffalo (30-23-8) and the New York Rangers (30-24-8) at 68 points. The three clubs have just a one-point edge over the New York Islanders (30-25-7) in ninth place.

The Bruins have gone beyond regulation in their past two contests, but emerged with two shootout victories. Phil Kessel and David Krejci tallied in the shootout in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Carolina, and Marco Sturm scored the lone shootout goal in Thursday's 5-4 triumph over the Florida Panthers.

Captain Zendo Chara has tallied in three straight games and five of the last seven contest. The All-Star defenseman has seven points in that span.

Tampa Bay is stuck in last place and has dropped its last three games - one in overtime.

All-Star center Vincent Lecavalier had his seven-game point streak snapped in Thursday's 1-0 setback to the New York Islanders. The Quebec native ranks third in the NHL with 77 points this season.

The two teams have met twice this season, with each claiming a 4-1 victory on home ice. Lecavalier tallied twice in the Lightning's triumph on December 1.