Lightning top Bruins, 4-1

Sports shorts

Ondrej Palat scored twice in the first 3:19 of the game, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Wednesday night to open a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots for Tampa Bay, which has won two straight since losing the series opener at home.

Anthony Cirelli scored his first career NHL playoff goal — with an assist from Yanni Gourde, whose wife gave birth on Tuesday — giving Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead late in the first.

Patrice Bergeron scored his fourth goal of the playoffs for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 33 saves.

Game 4 night. is Friday

WILSON SUSPENDED » The NHL suspended Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson three games on Wednesday for an illegal hit on Pittsburgh’s Zach Aston-Reese.

The league announced the suspension less than 24 hours after Wilson broke Aston-Reese’s jaw with a violent collision near the Washington bench in the second period of Washington’s 4-3 Game 3 victory over the Penguins.

Aston-Reese was stickhandling near the Capitals bench when Wilson drilled the rookie with his left shoulder. The force propelled Wilson up into the Washington bench while Aston-Reese lay on the ice for several moments before skating off. He was later diagnosed with a concussion and a broken jaw.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety ruled Wilson made Aston-Reese’s head the initial point of contact during the collision, pointing out that Wilson did not have to pivot to his left side to hit Aston-Reese.

The league said Aston-Reese made no sudden movement at the last second that made contact unavoidable. The league pointed out several ways Wilson could have finished the play legally only to instead launch himself at Aston-Reese.

“He extends up and into the hit unnecessarily,” the league said in a video.

While Wilson was not penalized during the game, the league’s Department of Player Safety called for a hearing on Wednesday.

This isn’t the first time this season Wilson has been disciplined by the league. He was forced to sit out two preseason games following a late hit on St. Louis Blues rookie Robert Thomas and was suspended for the first four games of the regular season for boarding Blues forward Sammy Blais shortly after his return.

NBA

DONOVAN TO RETURN » Thunder general manager Sam Presti said Wednesday that coach Billy Donovan’s job is safe, despite a disappointing season.

Oklahoma City had high expectations this season after trading for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to join reigning MVP Russell Westbrook. Even with the added star power, the Thunder won just one more regular-season game than last year and lost in the first round of the playoffs again.