Lightning finishes off Bruins in 2OT

The Tampa Bay Lightning remained perfect in overtime and are headed to the NHL’S Eastern Conference finals for the fourth time in six seasons.

Victor Hedman scored with 5:50 left in the second overtime to give the Lightning a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins, ending their best-of-seven playoff series in five games on Monday night.

The Tampa Bay defenseman beat goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the left circle, scoring off a pass from Brayden Point.

The resilient Lightning outshot the team with the league’s best record during the regular season 7-1 in the second OT, improving to 5-0 in overtime games in this year’s playoffs.

“We know what we want,” Hedman said. “We’re not taking no for an answer.”

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 power-play goal in the second period for Boston.

“Clearly, we didn’t reach our goal,” said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, who watched his team — a Stanley Cup finalist last season — lose four straight after winning Game 1 against the Lightning.

“I also believe with the turn of events with the pause and stuff going on in the world bigger than hockey ... once we got back here it wasn’t the same as a normal season. It just wasn’t,” Cassidy said, adding that wasn’t an excuse for the second-round result.

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 by the Blue Jackets in the first round in 2019.

“It’s a great feeling to win the first two rounds, especially after last year,” said Vasilevskiy, who stopped 147 of 157 shots in the series.

AVALANCHE 6, STARS 3: Pierre-edouard Bellemare began a five-goal scoring spree in the first period, and Colorado avoided second-round elimination with a victory over Dallas in Game 5.

The Avalanche trail the Stars 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 is Wednesday.

Andre Burakovsky, Nathan Mackinnon, Nazem Kadri and Mikko Rantanen also scored in a 2:36 span for Colorado in a high-flying first period. The five goals set 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 remaining in the first.