Lightning top Bruins, take 3-1 series lead
BOSTON Dan Girardi scored 3:18 into overtime on Friday night to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins and a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Lightning jumped ahead 2-0 for the second straight game. But this time Boston answered with three straight goals, including a short-handed score by Patrice Bergeron — his second of the game — to break a third-period tie.
Steven Stamkos tied it 3-3 with seven minutes left in regulation. Girardi ended it when he got a stick on a pass from Alex Killorn that was deflected off Brian Gionta’s skate in the crease.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for the Lightning, who will have a chance to clinch it at home Sunday.
Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots for the Bruins.
Two nights after scoring twice in the first 3:19 for a lead they would never relinquish, the Lightning again opened a 2-0 lead. Brayden Point scored about five minutes in when he split defenders Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy at the blue-line and then faked out Rask.
With the Bruins already a man down, Chara then backhanded the puck over the glass on a clearing attempt for another penalty. It was back to 5-on-4 when Nikita Kucherov made it 2-0 midway through the period on a powerplay one-timer from the circle.
But David Pastrnak one-timed a golf shot into the net to make it 2-1 after one, then the Bruins tied it early in the second on a give-andgo from Bergeron to Torey Krug and back to Bergeron. Boston was back on the penalty kill six minutes into the third when Brad Marchand chased down a puck in the Lightning end and then delivered a cross pass that Bergeron redirected into the net.
Tampa Bay tied it with seven minutes left after Kucherov knocked McAvoy down for the turnover behind the Bruins net and the puck worked its way to Stamkos in the slot for a one-timer.