Bruins' Top Line Dominant In Game 1 Victory Over Bolts

It has seemed from the majority of the season that the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins were destined to meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The teams were clearly the class of the Atlantic Division all season long and we got our wish when Boston was able to prevail over the Toronto Maple Leafs in 7 games. Saturday lived up to the hype and more. It was a tight, physical game that had a multitude of momentum swings, but not enough for the good guys. Boston took the lead late in the 1st period and Tampa Bay could never draw even. Rick Nash and Patrice Bergeron each had 2 goals en route to the 6-2 victory for Boston. 

This one didn’t take long to get exciting. Both team had some really great chances before the 1st TV timeout of the game. The best chances on the Lightning end came in the form of a Steven Stamkos one-timer and a Ryan McDonagh bullet, but Tuukka Rask was up to the task early to keep Tampa Bay from seizing all momentum early on. The line that played the best for the Lightning in the 2nd half of the period was Yanni Gourde, Alex Killorn, and Tony Cirelli. Killorn had a fantastic chance to take the lead, but Rask stopped him once again. The 1st penalty of the game was charged to Ryan Callahan and the Bruins jumped all over it. Rick Nash deflected the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy just 8 seconds into the power play to give his team the lead heading into the 1st intermission. 

Boston carried that momentum into the 2nd period. The 1st shift was a little flat for the Lightning and Patrice Bergeron took advantage. His 2nd goal of the playoffs was the 2nd of the game for the Bruins just 42 seconds into the period. Tampa Bay answered right away. Dan Girardi’s shot from near the blue line was powerful enough to get past Rask and cut the lead in half less than 2 minutes after the Bergeron goal. One of the biggest swings of the game happened right near the halfway mark of the period. It looked like Brad Marchand had made it a 3-1 game, but the goal was waived off because of a David Pastrnak penalty that took place right before the Marchand shot. The Bolts couldn’t score on that power play and the momentum shift didn’t impact Boston. Nash scored his 2nd goal of the game right as Tampa Bay was getting their power play unit off the ice. Another weird momentum change wasn’t far behind that. Mikhail Sergachev cut the deficit to a single goal after Rask gave up on the play when the blade of his skate fell of seconds prior. 

The Lightning came out aggressive in the 3rd, but Boston didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal whatsoever. That strategy came through. Brad Marchand scored in the early stages of the final period of regulation to give his team some breathing room at 4-2. They extended that lead even further just past the halfway mark of the period thanks to Bergeron’s 2nd goal. 

These teams will be right back in action on Monday night. The Bolts host the Bruins in game 2 of their series at 7 pm. Pregame coverage begins right at 6 on our sister station 970 WFLA.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

1. BOS - PPG - Nash - (Pastrnak, Bergeron) - 17:11

2ND PERIOD

1. BOS - Bergeron - (Pastrnak, Marchand) - 0:42

2. TBL - Girardi - (Paquette, Hedman) - 2:31

3. BOS - Nash - (Krejci, Pastrnak) - 12:33

4. TBL - PPG - Sergachev - (Point, Gourde) - 13:22

3RD PERIOD

1. BOS - Marchand - (McAvoy) - 3:32

2. BOS - Bergeron - (Marchand, Pastrnak) - 10:11

3. BOS - DeBrusk - (Marchand, McAvoy) - 13:41

PENALTY SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

1. TBL - Callahan - (Tripping) - 17:03

2ND PERIOD

1. BOS - Pastrnak - (Cross Checking) - 10:17

2. BOS - DeBrusk - (Interference) - 12:41

3RD PERIOD

1. BOS - DeBrusk - (Cross Checking) - 11:24

SHOTS ON GOAL

Tampa Bay - 35

Boston- 23


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