Point, Lightning answer challenge
TAMPA, FLA.— Well, Brayden Point promised a better effort in Game 2, and he delivered.
Point, who struggled in the Game 1 loss trying to defend the Bruins’ top line, had a goal and three assists Monday in the Lightning’s 4-2 victory.
Game 3 is Wednesday in Boston.
The Lightning have shown the ability all season to bounce back from a poor effort. They did it again in a game they had to win given the success rate of teams that dropped the first two home games of a best-of-seven series. That would be 22 per cent.
The intensity that was lacking in Game 1 against the Bruins showed up.
The series is 1-1 and shifts to Boston for games Wednesday and Friday.
Monday’s win guaranteed the series will return to Tampa on Sunday for Game 5.
It was not easy. The Lightning led 3-1 with four minutes to play, but the Bruins made it 3-2 when Torey Krug scored off an offensive zone faceoff.
Minutes earlier, Ondrej Palat scored what appeared to be a back-breaking goal to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead.
Point, though, put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal with 25 seconds left.
Point intercepted a pass by Brad Marchand and fed Palat, who scored his first goal of the series and second of the postseason.
Tyler Johnson made it 2-1 midway through the second when he converted a cross-ice pass from Point and beat Tuukka Rask. It was the second time Point found a linemate for a goal.
That was one way to negate the scoring prowess of the Bruins’ top line —make it play some defence.
Patrice Bergeron, Marchand and David Pastrnak were not the game-breakers they were in Game 1. Bergeron and Marchand had assists on a first-period goal by Charlie McAvoy. Marchand and Pastrnak also set up Krug’s tally, giving the line 15 points so far in the series.