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Lightning Surge Over Boston Bruins 7-1, Take Series Lead

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4 years ago

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The Tampa Bay Lightning scored a plethora of four goals in the second period against the Boston Bruins Wednesday night to take Game 3 and a 2-1 series lead.

Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn (2g), Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde, Nikita Kucherov, and Mikhail Sergachev all scored for the Lightning, while Brad Marchand was the lone goal scorer for the Bruins.

Jaro Halak finished his time between the pipes for Boston with 12 saves on 16 shots, while Dan Vladar made 12 saves in his NHL debut. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves in the win.

The Lightning got on the board first, scoring with 7:14 left in the first period. Bruins forward Nick Ritchie was sent off for slashing.

Palat took a shot from the top of the right face-off circle that went off the stick of Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara and past Halak. It was the first time the Lightning scored on the man-advantage in 17 power play opportunities.

Less than 30 seconds later, Gourde retrieved the puck along the boards, entering the offensive zone for the Lightning. Jeremy Lauzon attempted to make a play to cut Gourde off, but an NHL official got in the way preventing Lauzon from skating over to Gourde. The 28-year-old forward was able to skate it in, then waited until Halak was falling to put the Lightning ahead by two goals.

Less than two minutes into the second period, Patrice Bergeron took a high sticking penalty for the Bruins. On the man-advantage, Sergachev received a pass in the slot, and one-times a shot past Halak to give the Lightning a three-goal lead.

Then, less than three minutes later the Lightning were whistled for a tripping penalty. On the Bruins first power play of the night, Torey Krug slap-passed the puck to Brad Marchand who was waiting on the doorstep of Vasilevskiy. Marchand redirected a shot to get the Bruins on the board.

The Lightning would go on to score on their third power play goal of the game, as Charlie McAvoy was whistled for roughing with 11:41 left to go in the second period. Palat found  Killorn in front of Halak who back-handed a shot past Halak to regain the Lightning’s three-goal lead.

And then it appeared coach Bruce Cassidy had seen enough. After a commercial break, Cassidy pulled Halak and put in rookie Dan Vladar who would make his NHL debut.

But, the 23-year-old could not catch a break. Brayden Point out-skated McAvoy, then undressed Vladar on the breakaway to put the Lightning up 5-1.

A defensive breakdown by the Bruins in neutral zone led to the Lightning extending their lead to 6-1. Killorn was able to skate the puck into the offensive zone, Bruins players trailing behind him, then shot the puck stick-side on Vladar to give the Lightning their fourth goal of the second period.

Continuing their scoring frenzy, it took no more than four minutes into final period of play for the Lightning to find the back of the net once again.

Point kept the puck in the offensive zone, skated around John Moore, and passed to Kucherov who was alone in front of Vladar. Vladar backhanded a shot five-hole to give Tampa a 7-1 lead.

The Bruins will look to even the series Friday night at 7:30 PM EST.

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