By Damian Cristodero, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
BOSTON — The Lightning on Tuesday night became the first NHL team to score in the first and last 15 seconds of a playoff period, the Elias Sports Bureau said.
But that was the high point for Tampa Bay in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final, won by the Bruins 6-5 at TD Garden to even the best-of-seven series at one game each.
The Bruins, stung by a 5-2 Game 1 loss, was the better team except for those 15-second spurts by Tampa Bay at the start and end of the first period that gave it a 2-1 lead.
But five Boston goals in the second period — the most Tampa Bay has allowed in a playoff period — on nine shots put the Bruins ahead 6-3 and chased goalie Dwayne Roloson, who allowed six goals on 27 shots in the game.
Rookie Tyler Seguin, 19, in his second career playoff game, led the way for Boston with two goals and two assists.
It wasn't as if the Lightning quit as it saw its eight-game winning streak and team playoff-record six-game road winning streak come to an end.
It ended up outshooting Boston 41-35, a testament to its play-to-the-end mentality. Vinny Lecavalier had a goal and four points. Steven Stamkos had a goal and three points.
And when Dominic Moore scored with 6:45 left in the third period, following Stamkos' goal earlier in the period, it was 6-5.
But the Bruins had just a little bit more than Tampa Bay and too much to prove after two days of withering media criticism. Even their power play, which was 2-for-41 coming in, scored twice.
That the Lightning led 2-1 in the first period was a miracle. Boston dominated. It had an 18-11 shot advantage as Tampa Bay tied a team playoff mark for most shots allowed in a period.
That said, Tampa Bay scored 13 seconds into the game on Hall's backhander after Lecavalier's shot from the right wing went wide and ricocheted off the back boards to Hall off the left post. Marty St. Louis scored with 6.5 seconds left to make it 2-1.
In between, it was all Boston, which for at least a two-minute stretch that ended 5:52 into the period, kept Tampa Bay pinned in its zone with the same five players — Hall, Nate Thompson, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Eric Brewer and Victor Hedman — stuck on the ice.
The Lightning did not crack and blocked three shots as Boston got only two on net.
The next challenge came with 8:01 left as Hall was called for roughing and joined Ryan Malone in the penalty box, setting up a 1:22 five-on-three. Tampa Bay killed that off, with Roloson stopping Milan Lucic twice from point-blank range, and had one second left on the remaining 38 seconds of Hall's penalty when Nathan Horton tipped in a Dennis Seidenberg point shot with 6:02 left to make it 1-1.
Then came the buzzkill for Boston: Marty St. Louis' tip of a Stamkos backhand shot deflected past goalie Tim Thomas.
The Bruins shrugged it off, though, and scored five goals in the second period for a 6-3 lead. Tampa Bay's only goal was from Lecavalier, whose power-play goal made it 4-3 with 7:48 left.
Seguin scored on a breakaway 48 seconds in as he skated past flat-footed Lightning defensemen Randy Jones and Hedman. David Krejci scored at 1:24, and Seguin scored again at 6:30 at the end of a two-on-one to make it 4-2.
Michael Ryder scored Boston's final two goals, the first on a power play with 3:44 left. The second made it 6-3 with 18.9 seconds left as he converted a rebound of a Seguin shot.