Bergeron, Nash, score twice each; Bruins beat Lightning

TAMPA, FLA. — Tuukka Rask tossed a broken skate blade up the ice in frustration, but hardly lost his cool.

“I didn’t throw it at anybody,” the Boston goaltender said Saturday. “If I threw it at somebody, I’d like to apologize, but I didn’t. I just wanted to make sure that everybody saw that my blade was off.”

Rask settled after allowing a second-period goal while trying to let officials know he had a problem with his left skate, finishing with 34 saves in the Bruins’ 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their best-of-seven National Hockey League Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series.

Rick Nash had two goals and the Bruins’ high-scoring line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand combined for 11 points, however Rask’s ability to retain his composure after Mikhail Sergachev’s goal trimmed Boston’s lead to 3-2 was every bit as important.

“He was really good,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He gave us more than a chance to win early on when we were still trying to find our legs. We weren’t executing very well.

They were better than us, and then our top guys started finishing their chances.”

Bergeron also scored twice and had an assist on one of Nash’s goals for the Bruins, who finished one point behind Tampa Bay for the Atlantic Division title, as well as the No. 1 seed in the East.

Game 2 is Monday night at Amalie Arena.