Boston Bruins take lead in Conference Finals after 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay Lightning - NHL Playoffs
The Bruins defeated the Lightning, 3-1, and took a 3-2 lead in the National Hockey League (NHL) Playoff Eastern Conference Finals putting Tampa Bay on the verge of elimination on Monday night.
It looks like the Tampa Bay Lightning have finally cooled down and the thunderstorm they once created is finished.The sell out crowd at the TD Garden in Boston could not have been happier when their home team finally returned and threw the Lightning on the
brink of extinction from this year’s playoffs.
Tampa Bay outscored the Bruins by a wide 34-20 margin throughout the game as the Lightnings backup goalie for Dwayne Roloson, Mike Smith, in his first career playoff match managed to block 17 of 19 shots. Home goalie, Tim Thomas, faced 34 and had a near
shutout only falling short on one shot for a total of 33 saves.
Simon Gagne scored the first goal of the match in the opening minute of the initial period and created a nail-biting situation for the crowd who were worried that Tampa Bay would go on another shooting spree similar to game four. Luckily, they were not able
to score after that as Thomas went into defensive lockdown mode and Nathan Horton scored the tying goal for Boston and his seventh of the season early in the second. Brad Marchand made the tie-breaker and sent the fans into frenzy with less than five minutes
remaining.
Both teams were penalised four times each and successfully killed each of the power play opportunities they gave to the opposing team. Boston was inevitably going to win the match as the final 20 minutes were coming down to a close but forcing overtime was
still an option for Tampa Bay. Those hopes were washed away when Rich Peverley scored on an empty net and sent the match out of reach with 53 seconds remaining.
As both teams have their eyes set on the Stanley Cup finals and ultimately winning it, game six will be all that more interesting and is scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Tampa Bay.
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