They say lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice, but the Bruins discovered otherwise tonight as Tampa Bay beat Boston 4-1 in game three to take a 2-1 series lead.
Andrej Palat opened up the scoring for Tampa Bay with two goals in the first four minutes of the opening period. Patrice Bergeron then responded by scoring a power-play goal with under six minutes remaining the first period—cutting the deficit in half.
However, it didn’t take long for Tampa Bay to answer, with the Lightning’s third goal of the night coming from Anthony Cirelli just over two minutes later.
The second period was a quiet affair as neither team found the net during the frame. Ultimately Steven Stamkos delivered the final blow to the Bruins with an empty-netter with just under a minute remaining in the third period.
If the Bruins want to win this series, they need to reset. Winning the first series against Toronto was beyond exciting, but this isn’t the time for complacency. The Bruins will need to ground themselves in order to prevent Tampa from running away with the series and to keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Bruins will look to even the series at two on Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m.
