by Frank Quartarone August 25th 2020
There was no way the Tampa Bay Lightning could drop Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semis to the Boston Bruins, not if they felt like advancing that is. Ondrej Palat scored just five minutes into the extra frame to vanquish Boston, a pivotal win for Tampa after dropping Game 1. Some may ask why it was so important this early in the series. The answer is of course you don’t want to be in a 2-0 hole to arguably the best team in the NHL for 2020. The two teams have a quick turnaround with Game 3 scheduled for 8:00 on Wednesday night.
Thanks to the new NHL playoff format due to COVID 19, the two best teams in the East are doing battle in the second round. Unfortunate for whoever loses no doubt, but this is the series most hockey fans wanted and getting it a round early is just fine with me. At times in Game 1, it looked like the Lightning, minus captain Steven Stamkos, looked a bit overmatched with the rugged and quick Bruins. That all changed as Tampa responded with a very gritty showing in Game 2.
The Lightning showed heart battling back from consecutive one goal deficits to take the lead in the third period. Boston then responded to tie it late before Palat came through in OT to win it for the Lightning. The beginning of the game, however, saw the Lightning get down by a goal early partially due to some bad puck luck.
Boston’s Nick Ritchie was able to grab the early lead for the B’s when Zach Bogosian had his stick break during a clear attempt resulting in a 2-on-1 rush the other way. The puck made its way into the crease where Ritchie was planted in front of the Tampa net. Ritchie proceeded to jam away at, finally forcing it under Andrei Vasilevskiy and into the net for a 1-0 lead for the B’s.
The Bolts came out and tied it just two minutes later, but a Boston coach’s challenge for offside was successful, negating the goal. Barclay Goodrow had tipped a Braden Coburn point shot past Boston goalie Jaroslav Halak. Tampa forward Brayden Point was a little slow clearing the zone before Goodnow had entered thus creating the offside that cancelled out the equalizer.
Undaunted, Tampa continued to press the Bruins deep in their own zone. The Lightning finally broke the ice, no pun intended, on a sweet setup by Zach Bogosian to Blake Coleman. Bogosian made a fantastic move past Bruin D-man Torey Krug to get the puck to Coleman who dove, directing the puck into the net to tie it at 1-1.
The two teams slugged it out back and forth for most of the second period with the Bolts having the shots advantage. Nonetheless, both teams managed to score less than a minute apart from each other to keep it tied at 2-2 heading into the third period. That all changed at 10:40 of the third when Coleman struck again for the Lightning. Coleman was able to tuck it in five hole on Halak after a brilliant pass from Victor Hedman sent him in alone.
The goal gave Tampa their first lead of the series, unfortunately the Bruins would strike again just minutes later.
At 16:02 of the third, professional Bruins nemesis, Brad Marchand lit the lamp for the B’s knotting it up again at 3-3. The rest of the period, the teams would exchange decent chances before heading into the extra frame.
Once in overtime, the Bolts looked calm and collected just waiting for the first Bruins mistake. That mistake came courtesy of a turnover in the Bruins zone caused by a strong forecheck by Pat Maroon. He was able to force the puck into the crease area where Palat pounced for the game winner. The Lightning are now 4-0 in games decided in overtime this postseason.
One negative heading into Game 3 is the Lightning were beaten soundly again in special teams. Tampa was only able to kill only 1-3 Boston power play chances, and went 0-2 on their own opportunities to score with the man advantage. The Bolts will need to shore those areas up if they hope to move past the Bruins and onto the next series.
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