The series is tied at two a piece, but Boston and their fans will have woken up on Sunday not quite able to believe it. They had back to the, relative, sanctuary of Boston Gardens and will look to get going again.
Trailing 3-0, having been shut out for four consecutive periods, and the possibility of falling behind the Bruins 3-1 in the series, the Lightning found their offense again and five unanswered goals later, find themselves even with the Bostonians in the
Eastern Conference Finals at two games apiece. Both teams now head back to Boston for
Game 5 on Monday night.
The complementary gang that has been so effective for the
Tampa Bay Lightning this postseason was back in full force on Saturday, as Teddy Purcell scored twice and Sean Bergenheim pitched in with his playoff-leading ninth goal to lead Tampa back from a 3-0 deficit. Purcell entered the game with just two career playoff goals (both this season), and scored those two goals 1:03 apart in the second period. It was his first multi-goal game since Feb. 23 against Phoenix. Offensive stalwarts, Simon Gagne (4 G, 7 A) and Martin St. Louis (8 G, 9 A) added the last two goals to put the finishing touches on the comeback, that was made complete also thanks to Dwayne Roloson who stopped all 21 shots fired at him after a brutal first period that saw him allow three goals on nine shots. St. Louis and another Tampa teammate who assisted on its second goal, Vincent Lecavalier (6 G, 11 A), are tied with Joe Thornton for the NHL lead with 17 postseason points.
Saturday marked the first time in its long storied playoff history that Boston lost a playoff game when leading by three goals or more after the first period, having won all previous 23 games (however, the Bruins did lose Game 7 of the 2010 Eastern Conference Semis when leading 3-0, but the Flyers scored at 17:12 of the first period to make it 3-1 after one period). Patrice Bergeron, in just his second game back from a concussion, scored two first-period goals for the Bruins and both were unassisted. The last time Boston had TWO unassisted goals in a playoff PERIOD was April 21, 1994 in an eventual 6-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens. It was Bergeron's first career multi-goal game in the playoffs, and his first multi-goal game since Feb. 3 against the Stars. Bergeron leads the Bruins with 14 points (4 G, 10 A) in the postseason. After stopping all 10 shots in the first period, Tim Thomas allowed four goals on his last 26 shots faced. The loss snaps a three-game road win streak and drops Boston to 5-2 on the road this postseason.
Back at home, the
Boston Bruins should be fired up, but need Thomas to return to his Game 3 form, otherwise they will be in trouble. So far Boston has managed to escape with one win in three games that they allowed five goals in. If Thomas is unsuccessful at stopping this incredible Tampa offensive attack, then the Lightning will head back home with a chance to go into the Finals. Saying that, I like Thomas to step up and raise his game, leading the Bruins to within a game of the Stanley Cup. I’m taking Boston.
The
NHL betting trends side with the Bruins:
BOSTON is 17-5 ATS (77.3%, +10.5 Units) against explosive offensive teams - scoring 3+ goals/game - 2nd half of the season this season. The average score was BOSTON 3.7, OPPONENT 2.4 - (Rating = 2*).