Bruins lose 3-2 in double OT, season over

Victor Hedman scored with 5:50 left in the second overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 win and end the Bruins’ season in a five-game Stanley Cup playoff Eastern Conference semifinal.

Jaroslav Halak gave a throwback performance to 2010 when he led the Montreal Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Finals, but he had no chance on the game-winner. Pat Maroon provided the screen for Hedman’s shot to slip past him and finish off the B’s.

Halak was tested early and he came up with at least three Grade A saves in the first period, and the Bolts also hit a post. But the B’s eventually gained their legs and got some decent chances on Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Bolts got a great opportunity later in the first when the B’s were tagged with a double minor. Trying to sneak behind Zdeno Chara, Nikita Kucherov clipped skates with the B’s captain. With Chara off-balance, his stick came up and hit Kucherov in the face, putting the B’s down a man for four minutes.

Kucherov left the game and did not return for the period. Tampa’s power play, which had been gashing the B’s in the previous two games, was not the same without its engine, Kucherov, and they did not have a serious chance on the lengthy advantage.

Kucherov came back for the second period, but he did not finish it. But, at 4:21, Tampa struck first yet again. After the Lightning won an extended board battle, Kevin Shattenkirk got the puck out high in space with his shot was deflecting by Ondrej Palat for his fifth goal in four games.

The B’s got it back, though, with a power-play goal at 12:38. After missing a head shot from Ryan McDonagh on Ondrej Kase and an interference from Zach Bogosian on David Pastrnak, the refs called a questionable tripping penalty on Kucherov against Charlie McAvoy.

The man-advantage was not as fluid as some of the B’s power plays are, but it eventually got the job done. With seconds ticking off, Patrice Bergeron kept the attack alive when he picked off a Mikhail Sergachev clear attempt. Eventually, David Krejci froze Vasilevskiy with the fake of the back-scratching slapper and slipped a pretty pass over to Pastrnak, who had an empty net in which to bury it.

Kucherov left the game again after serving the penalty, setting up a huge possible story line.

While he wasn’t seeing a high volume of shots — just 12 through two periods — Halak still had to be good. He made a terrific pad save that robbed Palat on what looked like a sure goal, and the teams went into the third period tied 1-1.

While the Bolts were figuring out how to be effective without Kucherov, the B’s lost a key player in the third period. As he was going back to retrieve a puck in his corner, McAvoy stopped quickly and turned, but Cedric Paquette drilled him between the 7 and 3, driving him head first into the boards. No penalty was called and, unlike with Nick Ritchie’s hit on Yanni Gourde on Game 4 that would be assessed a major penalty after the fact, the refs did not review this one.

Bruce Cassidy was not happy about it, to say the least. And, wouldn’t you know it, while McAvoy was still in the dressing room getting looked at, the Bolts scored the go-ahead goal at 12:03. Victor Hedman’s point shot was redirected by Anthony Cirelli for another deflected goal and the Bolts held a 2-1 lead.

Had the Bruins sagged at that point, it would have been understandable. But they did not. McAvoy returned and the B’s pushed. And for the first time in several games, they got some good luck. Zdeno Chara’s crossing pass went off Palat’s stick and right to Krejci for an easy goal.

The B’s had a great chance to win it in regulation when Victor Hedman tripped Ondrej Kase with 1:56 left, but they were not able to capitalize.

The B’s carried much of the play in the first overtime — outshooting Tampa, 11-7 —  though the Lightning were given the only power play in the stanza when Krejci was called for a tripping penalty. But the B’s survived it and mush on to the second OT.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2YUbVoe