Lightning strikes early in road win

BOSTON» Between the birth of his first child in Tampa Bay and Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Boston, Yanni Gourde squeezed in what could be his last nap for a while.

The Lightning forward spent the night with his wife and newborn daughter in the hospital on the off day and flew to Boston on Wednesday. He missed the morning skate but was waiting for his teammates at lunch.

He received quite a greeting.

“It was like we scored a game-winning goal,” coach Jon Cooper said after Ondrej Palat scored twice and Gourde assisted on Tampa Bay’s third goal in a 4-1 victory over Boston that gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead in the series.

“It’s a team that cares,” Cooper said. “We were so happy for him.”

Palat scored twice in the first 3:19 of the game, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots to help Tampa Bay to its second win in a row since losing the series opener at home.

“Boston came in and took one of our games at home. We had to take one of theirs on the road,” Cooper said. “We did that.”

After Patrice Bergeron made it a one-goal game, Anthony Cirelli scored his first career NHL playoff goal to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead late in the first. Gourde provided an assist, chasing the puck into the zone before finding Cirelli in the slot.

“The last 24 hours have been amazing,” Gourde said. “Obviously, I wanted to be there for my wife, and, I think, it ended up it was perfect.”

Tuukka Rask made 33 saves for Boston.

Palat scored just 1:47 in after Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk settled the puck with his glove in his own end, then appeared to lose track of it and skated away, leaving the Lightning with an easy 2-on-1 opportunity.

Palat made it 2-0 just 92 seconds later on a shot that deflected off Bruins defenseman Torey Krug and into the net.

The Lightning made it 4-1 anyway when Steven Stamkos found the empty net on the power play with 42 seconds left.