The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night to even the best of seven series one game apiece.
The game started well for the Bruins. Though the Lightning put a lot of pressure on Boston early, it would be the Bruins coming through with the first goal when Nick Ritchie got one past Andrei Vasilevskiy at the 3:14 mark. Then the Bolts took a tough break when Barclay Goodrow got a shot in the net - but it was called back for off-sides. The Lightning did not give up early, though, and Blake Colemen tied the game at the 12:42 mark of the first period.
In the second period the Bruins used a power play opportunity to tie the game when Brad Marchand scored at the 14:33 mark. But the Lightning had a huge answer when Nikita Kucherov scored at the 15:28 mark to tie the game once again 2-2. That would be the score heading into the third period and coming down the stretch of this game - until Blake Coleman scored at the 10:40 mark. The Bruins came up with an answer of their own when Brad Marchand scored his second goal at the 16:02 mark and this game would once again be tied 3-3.
That would be the score at the end of the third period, and for the third time this playoff run the Lightning would play an overtime game. It would be Ondrej Palat being the hero in this game - he scored 4:40 into overtime to lift Tampa Bay to the win and tie the series at a game apiece. Andrei Vasilevskiy went 22-for-25 in net in the victory, while Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak went 36-for-40 in the losing effort.
The Lightning and Bruins will each look to take the series lead when they meet in the second game of a back to back on Wednesday evening. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 PM - pregame coverage begins at 7 PM on News Radio WFLA.