Boston Bruins level series against Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-5 in Game 2: NHL Play-offs Update
The 19-year-old rookie, Tyler Seguin lit the lamp twice in only his second play-off match of his career, to lift the Boston Bruins to victory, 6-5, and level the series 1-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of the National Hockey League (NHL) play-offs
Eastern Conference finals.
No one could have ever thought that after Boston lost their veteran centre player, Patrice Bergeron, they would be able to continue with the same momentum they entered the play-offs, but Coach Claude Julien’s decision to play Seguin could not have been better.
Seguin's goal-scoring performance in Game 1 was a kick-start to an unimaginable Game 2 in which he took four points to his credit.
"It's hard sitting there and not being able to help the boys," Seguin said about having to sit the previous two series on the bench. He added that when he was finally blessed with a chance to perform, he wanted to take advantage of the situation.
Adam Hall quickly opened the scoring when he gave Tampa Bay the lead 13 seconds into the first period. Nathan Horton levelled the match 13 minutes later on a 5-on-3 man advantage for the Bruins, when Ryan Malone and Hall were sent out with penalties. Martin
St. Louis fired back with his seventh of the season and took lead for the Lightning once again to finalise the period in their favour with seven seconds remaining.
Tyler Seguin took control and spared a Boston shooting spree when he scored in the first 48 seconds of the middle period. David Krejci followed the lead and made the tie-breaker with his sixth of the post-season while Seguin extended Boston’s lead even further
in the next four minutes.
Vincent Lecavalier took advantage of Boston’s first penalty of the period and scored to bring down the deficit by one goal, but Michael Ryder scored twice consecutively; once on Tampa Bay’s only penalty of the period and the second with 19 seconds remaining
to close the period with a commanding 6-3 lead.
It was all Tampa Bay in the final 20 minutes as Steven Stamkos and Dominic Moore scored back-to-back goals with seven minutes to spare and bring down the score to 6-5, but could not come up with any more and finally losing their first of nine match-up this
post-season.
"It puts a smile on your face at a time when you are so focused, so into the game that it is tough to smile at times," linemate Chris Kelly said talking about the crowd chanting Seguins name throughout. "I was real excited for him to go out there and perform
the way he did."
Seguin hopes to continue his miraculous performance in the next game when the Bruins head out to Tampa Bay for a tie-breaker on Thursday with the Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.
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