Rich Peverley scores twice to lead Boston Bruins over Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 -NHL Match Update
Rich Peverley scored twice to lead the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup champions, Boston Bruins, to victory over Tampa Bay Lightning by a monumental, 4-1, victory on Saturday, October 8, 2011, at a sold-out TD Garden in Boston Massachusetts.
For many fans, it was a repeat of the 2011 NHL Eastern Conference Finals in which Tampa Bay Lightning nearly defeated Boston to reach the finals against Vancouver Canucks, but it was Bruins this time that took no chances and annihilated the competition.
Boston outscored and out-powered Tampa Bay in all aspects Saturday night by a major 42-26 difference which had their veteran goalie, Mathieu Garon, scrambling all over the place to stop the puck but managed to block only 38.
"We were in this game going into the third, but if it wasn't for our goaltender, it could've been a three-goal game at that point", said forward Martin St. Louis, who scored Tampa Bay’s only goal of the matchup. "They just kind of circled our players. We
got outplayed, out-poised, outmuscled and out-battled. There wasn't much positive to take out of this game, besides the fact that our goalie gave us a chance going into the third period”.
The scoring began in round-two as Peverly scored his first off an assist by Brad Marchand. Martin St. Louis did not keep Tampa Bay Lightning far behind by scoring his second of the new season a little over a minute later, not knowing that it would be their
first and only goal.
Daniel Paille made the tie-breaker in favour of Boston by a far away slap shot and sent the crowd into a wild roar.
David Krejci followed up by scoring another for Bruins in the opening minutes of the final period followed by Peverly’s second to assist Boston to their first season victory.
Tampa Bay destroyed Carolina Hurricanes in their season opener on Friday, 5-1, but could not manage to maintain the momentum.
"It's not good enough. I know it's a back-to-back, but we've got to be better than that", added St. Louis.
Lightning continue their five-game road trip next against Washington Capitals on Monday while Boston stays at home to face Colorado Avalanche the same day.
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