(Image left - Bombers Nicklas Backstrom shaking hands with Henrik Lundqvist)
After a tough Round 2 series, the Bombers advance to the next round and is expecting to play either the Bullies or Nokians.
Despite the 4 game sweep, the series was much closer than what the series score would suggest, with all 4 games ending up 2-1 victories and 3/4 games going into overtime.
Puck possession was almost equal (slight edge to Tigers):
Tigers - 38% puck control in DF zone, 63% in offensive zone, and 51% in neutral zone
Bombers - 37% DF zone, 62% in offensive zone, 49% in neutral zone
Tigers Dominated Puck in Zone
(Picture Right, Brad Marchand - Bombers, shaking hands with PK Subban - Tigers) 39% of time in Bombers Zone, 36% of time in Tigers Zone, 24% in Neutral Zone
Bombers give the Tigers D a lot of credit, shutting down a lot of the offensive opportunities. In particular, Bombers GM lauded the play of Josh Gorges and two former Bombers, Anton Volchenkov and Jay McClement, who showed their defensive prowess by limiting passes into the offensive zone and intercepting rushes - forcing the team to dump pucks into the zone.
"We were very lucky to have snuck a few pucks by Lunqvist - he has shown why he is one of the top goalies in this league and the results could have easily gone the other way if their team was more disciplined in overtime," noted Bombers GM.