The most oft-quoted stat for the Tampa Bay Lightning heading into Wednesday night's Game 6 against the Boston Bruins: 6-0.
That's starter Dwayne Roloson's record in elimination games during his NHL career, including a Game 7 win back in the first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins in which he stopped all 36 shots he faced.
That game was played on April 27. Although it feels like months ago.
Sean Bergenheim scored a goal in that game … and is doubtful for Game 6. The Lightning power play, that's gone a stone-cold 0-fer in the last three games against the Boston Bruins, scored four times in an 8-2 rout in Game 5 that sparked their rally against Pittsburgh.
Yet it's that series that the Lightning are hearkening back to as the Bruins seek to eliminate them and secure a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Vancouver Canucks.
From the Tampa Tribune and Erik Erlendsson, the Lightning believe they're ready to thrive on another elimination night:
"The good thing is that, unfortunately, we are familiar with (facing elimination), it's just a matter of fine-tuning a few things as these games have hung in the balance,'' defenseman Eric Brewer said. "It's just a matter of finding that key goal or preventing that key goal.''
Perhaps the biggest key is to come out against Boston with the same attitude Tampa Bay showed in the first-round comeback against Pittsburgh, when the Lightning faced three consecutive elimination games and advanced. The focus then, as it must be tonight, was about staying in the moment, not thinking about what could be.
"We are not scared of this situation," right wing Marty St. Louis said. "It's an opportunity, and we are going to embrace it and go after it.''
St. Louis has nine of his 17 points on the power play. Steven Stamkos has four of his 10 with the man advantage. Neither player has tallied a power-play point in three games, which is one of the reasons the Bolts have lost two close games to the Bruins.
Obviously, it's not just a power-play unit that struggles; there's a group of penalty killers making life miserable for them as well. From The Bruins Blog on Boston's PK in Game 5:
The Bruins killed three straight Tampa Bay power plays from the first period through early in the second period. One of those penalty kills featured four players — Dennis Seidenberg, Adam McQuaid, Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly — staying on the ice in the Bruins' zone for 1:50 until they finally cleared the puck. You can argue how effective that kill really was, but know that the Lightning managed just one shot on goal in that entire span of the game.
"Yeah it was huge. Our penalty kill has been great especially this game," said center Patrice Bergeron, another key shorthanded performer. "It's been one reason why we won tonight, the way that we competed and the way that we played out there even though there's one penalty kill where Kelly and [Peverley] who stayed on the ice for almost two minutes but still, they didn't give out much and they found a way to get the puck out."
Coach Guy Boucher discussed the power play during an off-day media chat:
"Yeah, when you look at the video after we had a lot of offensive zone time. We actually did very well on the power play, just couldn't score. So sometimes just a matter of little details. A few instances where we get a shot, and other instances where there's other plays we wanted to make that we didn't do.
"One thing's for sure, the last two games hasn't been a power play story for any team. I think both penalty kills are working really hard. And it's a moment where, with the power play, probably score that goal, second goal, in the first beginning of the second period might have been a different story for the outcome of the game. But you never know, might not.
"So I hate to live in the past. I think we know exactly what we could do better in the power play and we know what we did very good in the power play, too. So like everything else we'll make sure tomorrow we put a better game on the ice, even though I felt we played a really good game."
Boucher says he hates to live in the past, but that's exactly from where this team needs to draw inspiration.
They've been down before. Their (allegedly clear-headed) goalie has thrived in this spot before. Defiance is a hell of a motivator, and half the hockey world is punching the Bruins' ticket to Vancouver for Game 1. The Lightning have to feed off of that.