The Lightning played another overtime, and had a new hero. Ondrej Palat scored early in the first overtime Tuesday night in Toronto to sink the Bruins and tie the Eastern Conference semifinal at a game apiece.
Palat sank in on the net watching for his opportunity while Pat Maroon carried the puck around behind the net. Goalie Jaroslav Halak made the save on Maroon and Palat one-timed the rebound to lift the Lightning to a 4-3 win at Scotiabank Arena.
For the first two periods, the Bruins scored and the Lightning responded. They stayed right in the game, but couldn't take the lead. They finally did so in the third, but couldn't hold it and needed overtime.
The Bruins scored first on a scramble in front of the net 3:14 into the game. Defenseman Zach Bogosian broke his stick and lost the puck at the defensive blue line, creating a rush the other way. Nick Ritchie tried to slip a backhand inside the post.
When Andrei Vasilevskiy made the pad save, the winger took another couple of whacks before Charlie Coyle joined in. By the time three Lightning players joined the scramble, all of them looking for the puck, it was already in the net and no one seemed to know but the referee.
The Lightning appeared to tie the score two minutes later on a Braydon Coburn shot that Barclay Goodrow tipped into the net. But the Bruins challenged for offside, revealing that Brayden Point had been so slow to get off the ice he was still in the zone when Goodrow sprinted in.
It was the second time of the playoffs that the Lightning suffered consequences for a bad line change. Victor Hedman was slow off the ice in Game 1 against Columbus, setting up a too-man-men penalty.
They knotted the score for real on an impressive play by Zach Bogosian, stick handling around two Bruins and then flipping the puck over to Blake Coleman on his way to the ice. Coleman dove to get his stick on the puck and tip it past goalie Halak.
Right wing Brad Marchand put the Bruins back on top late in the second period with a power-play goal. The Lightning seemed to lose track of him at the back door and left wing David Pastrnak found him for a quick redirection.
That lead lasted exactly 55 seconds.
Nikita Kucherov finished a great play by Point to tie the game back up one minute later. Point dug the puck out along the boards and spun away from Matt Gryzelcyk down low. He carried it up the boards and then put another spin move on Charlie Coyle, then danced between him and Anders Bjork before sending a pass over to Shattenkirk above the opposite circle. Kucherov deflected Shattenkirk's shot in front of the net.
The Lightning took their first lead of the game and the series about midway through the third period. Hedman picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone and sent an outlet pass up to the streaking Coleman for a breakaway. Coleman took a few steps and then beat Halak five-hole from the high slot.
Tampa Bay enjoyed the lead for more than five minutes before Marchand tied the game for the third time with a goal very similar to his first, again at the backdoor.
That score stood until overtime.
