Lightning flusters Bruins in OT
Golden Knights hold off Sharks to take 3-2 series advantage
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 to break a third-period tie.
Steven Stamkos tied it 3-all with 7 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, which will have a chance to clinch it at home Sunday.
“It’s going to be the hardest game of the series, and it always is,” said Tampa Bay wing Ryan Callahan, who was swabbed by Marchand’s tongue in the second period — the second straight opponent to complain about the tactic by the Bruins’ forward. 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 in the crease.
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 power-play one-timer from the faceoff circle.
But David Pastrnak one-timed a shot into the net to make it 2-1 after one, and then the Bruins tied it early in the second on a give-and-go 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 from to J.T. Miller and then Stamkos in the slot for a onetimer to tie it 3-all with seven minutes left in regulation.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, SHARKS 3: In Las Vegas, Nev., Alex Tuch scored twice to lead Vegas to a victory over San Jose, giving the Golden Knights a 3-2 series lead in their Western Conference semifinal.
James Neal, Erik Haula and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Vegas. Veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots, making save after highlight save until things got interesting late in the third period.
With San Jose trailing 4-0, Kevin Labanc, Tomas Hertl and Boedker scored in a 6:09 span to pull the Sharks within one with 4:16 remaining. However, Marchessault’s empty-netter with 1:21 left sealed it for Vegas.
Martin Jones allowed four goals on 31 shots before being pulled in the third. Aaron Dell came on and stopped all six shots he faced.
From a spectacular glove save on Mikkel Boedker’s point blank shot in the first period, to a pair of back-toback saves before and after being knocked into the goal midway through the second period, or an incredible pad save on Tomas Hertl early in the third, Fleury was dialed in from the start.
Game 6 is scheduled for Sunday in San Jose, with Game 7, if necessary, back in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.