Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning gear up for Game 7 of Eastern Conference Finals series – NHL Playoffs
Tampa Bay Lightning managed to avoid elimination and forced a decisive Game 7 as they defeated Boston Bruins by hanging on to a marginal 5-4 lead in the sixth game of the series. It will be interesting to see if they can do it again in Game 7 of the National Hockey League (NHL) Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals on Friday, May 27th.
Both teams came out with their top players performing at their level best but only one could emerge victorious.
Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier combined to overpower Boston’s duo, Milan Lucic and David Krejci.
Tampa Bay’s trio scored a goal each, including the game winner by St. Louis. The trio picked up a total of eight points.
Krejci registered a hat-trick while Lucic added Boston’s fourth goal, which was not enough at the end of the final period.
"We knew the importance of this game", Stamkos said. "Like Marty said, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves every night. It was nice to get rewarded. Special teams were great tonight. But once again, Teddy stepped up. He had a huge game. We've had different guys each game step up. Like Marty said, that's why we are where we are. (Dwayne Roloson) made the saves when he had to. I thought we played a real solid defensive game and limited their shots".
Lightning rested their first-choice goalie, Dwayne Roloson, for game four and five. Although the decision received criticism, it paid off for Lightning and coach, Guy Boucher, as Roloson was refreshed for a hectic Game 6 and performed brilliantly.
Both teams have had another day to rest and Roloson and Boston’s Tim Thomas, both, will be ready to play their top game.
Boston had multiple chances to eliminate Tampa bay Lightning but after taking a lead in the first or second period, they start lagging behind and let Lightning shoot consecutive goals to make a comeback and control the match.
In Game 4, Tampa Bay was behind 3-0 in the first period, but with Bruins slacking, they scored five consecutive goals in the second and third period to win the game by 5-3.
This time, Bruins want to change its fortunes and finally want a chance to raise the Stanley Cup for the first time in over 20 years.
"You dream about it as a little kid to be in the Final and have a chance to raise the (Stanley) Cup", said Krejci, who scored three consecutive goals in a play-off game which was the first for Boston Bruins in 20 years, the last being Cam Neely against Montreal. "We were close (Wednesday) and you don't want to blow it away. There's still one chance and I believe if we play the way we finished the game, we'll be sitting pretty good".
Lightning is missing one of its main attackers, Sean Bergenheim, who went out injured in Game 5 and not returned since then. The team management has listed him as day-to-day with an arising lower back injury.
They are also missing defenseman, Pavel Kubina, who has missed the whole series with an upper body injury and doesn’t appear to be returning anytime soon.
Boston, on the other hand, has a healthy line-up and should be ready to perform when the series returns home to the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, for the final game on Friday at 8:00 PM ET.
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