Victor Hedman scored the game winner in double overtime Monday night, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins in game five of a second round NHL playoff series at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Tampa wins the series 4-1, and advances to the Eastern Conference Finals in Edmonton against either the New York Islanders or Philadelphia Flyers.
Both teams had some good chances in a scoreless first period. Boston had a two on one breakout with David Krejci and Jake Debrusk that couldn’t be converted, as the pass to Debrusk for a one timer just missed. Charlie Coyle also had a break in on Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy that was gloved. The Lightning had their best chance on the games first shift when Brayden Point found Nikita Kucherov in the slot, and Kucherov fired one off the left post to the right of Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak. Tampa had a four minute powerplay that they couldn’t register a shot on, and Boston also had a two minute powerplay late in the period that came up empty as the shots ended up 8-5 Bruins. Kucherov left for the locker room because of a possible injury on the high sticking four minute minor to Zdeno Chara.
Kucherov did return for the beginning of the second period, and his Lightning would score the first goal of the night after some decent chances both ways over the first four minutes. Kevin Shattenkirk would take a point shot that was tipped perfectly by Ondrej Palat standing in the high slot that found the back of the net at 4:21 to make it 1-0. It was the fifth goal in the last four games for Palat. Boston had good pressure and some urgency after the Tampa goal, but couldn’t get one past Vasilevskiy until the 12:38 mark on the powerplay. Krejci would send one over to David Pastrnak at the left point who quickly one timed it past Vasilevskiy stick side to even things 1-1. Tampa would have two great chances right after the Boston goal, one on a turnover where Halak stopped Palat with a beautiful pad save in tight and also a Zach Bogosian shot that hit the post. The teams would stay knotted up at the end of 40 minutes with the shots 22-13 Bruins. Kucherov ended up heading back to the locker room again early in the period and never returned to action.
Boston kept pouring on pressure in the must win game early in the third period. Karson Kuhlman broke in alone and deeked left to right and had the goaltender down and out of position but couldn’t put the puck up and over Vasilevskiy, and Patrice Bergeron also led a 2 on 1 breakout where he would pull up in the high slot and take a shot that was fired wide. Tampa would take the lead again with 7:57 left when Anthony Cirelli on another tip in near the front of the net, knocked it past Halak on a Hedman shot from the right point. The Bruins equalized with just 2:33 remaining in their season when a shot by Chara from just inside the left point deflected off the stick of Palat, and ended up right on the stick of Krejci who was standing alone in the slot to the left of Vasilevskiy as he tucked it into the near empty cage. Despite a late powerplay for Boston with 1:56 left, they couldn’t take advantage and the game headed to the first overtime.
Boston territorially gained momentum for a good part of the first 10 minutes of the extra session, getting the first three shots on goal before Tampa Bay was awarded a powerplay on a Krejci tripping penalty at the 10:27 mark. After a Boston penalty kill, they had the two best chances coming on a broken play where Charlie McAvoy had a backhanded chance in the slot in front of the net, and on the same scramble Par Lindholm fresh off the bench was stopped in the high slot after the puck came right to his stick. After a slow start by the Lightning, the Bruins only held a 8-7 shots advantage in period four as game five moved to double overtime. The double overtime period was very up and down with both teams having good chances to end it. The game winner from Hedman came at 14:10, taking a pass and moving into the left faceoff circle and firing one in on net that eluded Halak who was screened by Patrick Maroon.
Halak finished with 32 saves in the loss, and Krejci lead the scoring with a goal and an assist. Boston finishes the season with a record of 49-22-12. Vasilevskiy was huge in net for Tampa Bay making 45 saves, while Hedman had the game winning goal and an assist. Shattenkirk and Point had two assists each. The Bruins were 1-4 on the powerplay, while the Lightning went 0-4. Tampa improves their record on the season to 53-24-6, and heads to the Eastern Finals for the first time since the 2017-18 season when they lost in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals. It should be an interesting offseason for Boston in regards to Tuuka Rask who opted out of the bubble during the first round win over Carolina, and also Chara who just finishes his 14th year on defense with the Bruins and 23rd season in the NHL.
