A crucial component for both teams to have success in round one is defense. Defense is the best offense. Defense wins championships. Defense… you get it. Defense is an integral part of the team’s success (including goaltending). The Lightning and Blue Jackets have two very strong defensive cores, and they’ll prove to be the make or break for both teams.
Goaltending
As touched on in my last article on this matchup, Sergei Bobrovsky has played much better than Andrei Vasilevskiy has in their teams respective last ten games. However, Vasilevskiy has been more consistent, therefore it is much closer than you would think.