
It’s the first game out of the all star break for both the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning with both teams trying to decide if they will be buyers or sellers at the deadline. The Bruins currently sit in the 3rd seed in the Atlantic division with 52 games played and 56 points, while the Bolts have played 50 games and have 50 points and sit 6 points out of a wild card spot and 6 points behind the Bruins.
The Bruins will have Tuukka Rask starting in net Tuesday night while Ben Bishop will start for the Lightning. While Rask has established himself as the number one for Boston, Bishop has had a rough season and has recently seen highly touted young net minder Andrei Vasilevskiy take more starts.
While the match up will be pivotal in the standings it will also be interesting in the fact that this game will be FREE on twitter. Yes you read that correctly, the game will be available to anyone in the United States (sorry Canada and those in Boston and Tampa) via Twitter. This is something the National Football League has done and seen increased attention because of it.
This represents a big step for the National Hockey League, this will open up the league to viewership that may just be scrolling down their timeline and get invested in the game. This is the first in a series of games that will be available on twitter.
The NHL will have one game per week that includes: the Montreal Canadians, Phoenix Coyotes, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Winnipeg Jets, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Florida Panthers.
Seeing as the games are only going to be stream able in the states there is a good balance of teams and particularly those not traditionally highlighted in league events. Coming out of the all star break and a time when sports fans will be looking for something to fill the gap with NFL winding down and MLB a ways away this is a great chance to grab more fans.