Tampa Bay books return trip to conference finals
TORONTO — Victor Hedman scored with 5:50 left in the second overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins and their fourth berth in the NHL’s Eastern Conference finals in six seasons on Monday night.
Hedman beat goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the left circle, finishing a barrage that saw the Lightning outshoot Bruins 7-1 in the second OT. Tampa Bay improved to 5-0 in overtime games in this year's playoffs.
David Krejci’s goal at 17:27 of the third period wiped out a 2-1 lead that Anthony Cirelli gave the Lightning when he redirected Hedman’s shot past Halak with just under eight minutes remaining in regulation.
Krejci, limited to one point in the first four games of the series, also assisted on David Pastrnak’s powerplay goal in the second period for Boston.
Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy had 45 saves and Ondrej Palat scored his fifth goal in four games for Tampa Bay, which is back in the East finals after being swept in the first round in 2019.
Halak, who allowed 11 goals over the previous three games, stopped 32 of 35 shots.
The Lightning played without reigning league MVP Nikita Kucherov for most of the night, losing him for the final seven minutes of the opening period after Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara drew a 4-minute double minor penalty for highsticking the Tampa Bay star.
Kucherov returned at the start of the second, but departed again for the rest of the game after serving a penalty for tripping — a miscue that set the stage for Boston to erase a 1-0 deficit on Pastrnak’s power-play goal at 12:38 of the period.
In Edmonton, Alberta, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare began a five-goal scoring spree in the first period and the Colorado Avalanche avoided second-round elimination.
The Avalanche trail the Stars 3-2 in the best-ofseven series. They’ve never won a series in team history when facing a 3-1 deficit.
Andre Burakovsky, Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri and Mikko Rantanen also scored in a 2:36 span for Colorado in a highflying first period. The five goals tied the franchise postseason record for a period.
Burakovsky added another in the second. He also had an assist.
Colorado goaltender Michael Hutchinson made an unexpected start as he stepped in for Pavel Francouz. Hutchinson earned his first NHL playoff victory by turning back 31 shots.
Stars starting goaltender Ben Bishop surrendered four goals before being replaced by Anton Khudobin with 6:17 left in the first.