The Boston Bruins’ season ended in Florida on Saturday as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Bruins 3-1 in game 5 to eliminate Boston from the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
After a slow start, the Bruins found themselves with a five on three advantage with just under two minutes to play in the first period. The Bruins made their man advantage count as David Krejci scored with 48 seconds remaining in the period.
KREJCI TOP CHEDDAH ???
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— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) May 6, 2018
The team that scored first in each game of the series had gone on to win the game which meant history was on the Bruins’ side following Krejci’s slap shot from the circle found the roof of the net. However, this trend did not carry over for the Bruins.
The Lightning tied the game midway through the second period with an unassisted goal from Brayden Point—who led the Lightning in scoring in the series. Point picked up the puck in the slot and stuffed it home after dangling Kevan Miller and Tuukka Rask.
hands on Point ??
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— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) May 6, 2018
Following Tampa Bay’s equalizer, the Bruins got in injury trouble. Rick Nash first exited the game after taking a shot to an unpadded area on his leg, but later returned to the game. The second injury game when J.T. Miller and David Backes were involved in a head-on-head collision. Backes remained on the ground for several minutes and did not return to the game.
Backes and Miller head to head collision pic.twitter.com/KLVsNICcNv
— Born Salty (@cjzero) May 6, 2018
After Backes’s injury, Tampa Bay went on the power play after Patrice Bergeron was called for a trip on Ondrej Palat. The Lightning took the lead on the power play thanks to a goal from Miller, who emerged from the previous collision unscathed. Miller and Nikita Kucherov played a give and go in the corner, which set Miller up perfectly for the eventual game-winning goal.
JT MILLER AND NIKITA KUCHEROV PLAY CATCH AND MILLER FIRES ONE PAST RASK! #GoBolts 2 – 1 #NHLBruins
(TB Leads Series 3-1) pic.twitter.com/9xdEJJ2lJn
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) May 6, 2018
The Bruins found themselves down one goal and on the power play with under five minutes to play in the third after Ryan McDonagh tripped David Pastrnak. The Bruins were unable to capitalize, however, as Ryan Callahan did a solid job of keeping the Bruins in their own zone and Andrei Vasilevskiy made a handful of key saves.
Anton Stralman scored an empty net goal to finish off the Bruins with 1:29 left in the game.
The Bruins struggled on both ends of the ice in this series. On the offensive side, the Bruins failed to score an even-strength goal in games three, four, and five. On the defensive side, Boston conceded 17 goals, including many early into games which put them at a disadvantage from the start.
This defeat concludes the Bruins season, while Tampa Bay moves on to face either the Washington Capitals or the Pittsburg Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals.
