Lightning stymie Bruins in Game 3, lead East series 2-1
Between the birth of his first child in Tampa, Fla., 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 gamewinning goal,” head 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 win its second in a row since losing the series opener at home.
Game 4 is Friday in Boston. “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 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 the Bruins.
“Playoffs are desperate hockey,” Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “You don’t ever go into any games saying ‘Oh, we have the luxury of being able to lose this one.’ That’s not how it goes.” Suspended: The NHL suspended Washington forward Tom Wilson three games for an illegal hit on the Penguins’ Zach Aston-Reese in Game 3 of an East semifinals series Tuesday. Aston-Reese suffered a concussion and broken jaw on the play.
Aston-Reese was stickhandling near the 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.
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.
Wilson also had to sit out two preseason games following a late hit on St. Louis rookie Robert Thomas and was suspended for the first four games of the regular season for boarding St. Louis forward Sammy Blais shortly after his return.
The league pointed out Wilson’s status as a repeat offender as a factor in the length of the suspension it issued.
Briefly: The Stars will hire the University of Denver’s Jim Montgomery as their next head coach, a person with knowledge of the situation said. Montgomery will succeed Ken Hitchcock, who retired last month . ... The NHL announced that the Bruins and Flames will play two exhibition games in China, meeting Sept. 15 in Shenzhen and Sept. 19 in Beijing.