Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steven Stamkos responds after Game 2 loss against the Boston Bruins
Even though Tampa Bay Lightning’s star youngster, Steven Stamkos, had one of the best nights of his career with regard to offence, Lightning lost Game 2 of the series, 6-5, to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, May 17th, at TD Garden.
Stamkos was the centre of attention in the game. Although he couldn’t score a goal, he created several chances for his teammates. He managed to score one goal through a wrist shot in the final period but that was just a minor part of his brilliant performance in the game.
The goal increased his tally of goals in the playoffs to 5 and Stamkos also bagged 2 assists to complete an impressive performance at the TD Garden.
During the second period, Bruins took the game away from Lightning since they scored five goals to put themselves in the driving seat, leading by 6-3.
This loss ended Lightning’s winning streak in the playoffs at eight games. The Bruins played as expected in the second period while Lightning was unable to maintain their expected level. In the end, this proved to be the difference despite Lightning’s struggle to make a comeback.
Lightning was superb in defence at the start of the game and cut down power-plays, dealing with 5-on-3 situations perfectly.
However, with the passage of time, the defence, for the first time in the play-offs, seemed to deteriorate. As a result, they were putting forward opportunities for the Bruins who readily accepted them and scored goals.
Regarding the game, Steven Stamkos said, “I don't know what it was. Maybe you feel good about yourself after you win the first game. I don't know. I thought we were well prepared. We knew the game plan and had a couple good practices, but we got away from our structure”.
The Lightning scored a goal in the dying stages of the first period to get into the lead and it looked as if this would be the team high with regard to confidence at the start of the second period.
However, they weren’t able to capitalize from the late lead while the Bruins took full advantage of the chances coming their way.
The Bruins have levelled the series on 1-1 after defeating Lightning by 6-5 in this Eastern Conference Finals series.
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