ESPN's Bottom Line Widget
Friday, May 20, 2011
THOMAS MAKES 31 SAVES TO SHUT OUT THE LIGHTNING
Last night in Tampa Bay, the Lightning returned home seeking a series lead. But Tim Thomas and the Bruins weren't going to let that happen. Just 1 minute in, Lucic played the puck to Krejci in front and he scored to give the Bruins an early 1-0 lead. 5 minutes later, Purcell came in and took a hard shot and Thomas and he made the save, spun around and did a 360 to stop Lecavalier on the rebound. That was probably Thomas's best save of the playoffs. So the score was 1-0 after 1. With 7 minutes to go in the second, Bergeron (of the Bruins) came in on a 2 on 1 and he played it to Peveraly and he was stopped by Roloson.
So the score was still 1-0 after 2 periods of play. 8 minutes into the third, Bergeron played the puck back to Ference at the point and Ference took a wrist shot and he scored to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. That was Andrew Ference's first goal since Game 4 of round 1 against the Montreal Canadiens when he gave the fans the finger.But there was no finger celebration here. Just a 2 goal lead for the Bruins. Then with the Lightning on the powerplay, St.Louis brought the puck to the front of the net and he was stopped by Thomas. The puck went back to the point and Stamkos shot was stopped as well.
That's as close as they would get as the Bruins win 2-0. Thomas made 31 saves for his 1st shutout of the 2011 playoffs to give the Bruins a 2-1 series lead."That felt more like a normal game," Thomas said. "That felt like the game we played most of the season. Playoffs are always faster and more energy and a few more scoring chances than a regular-season game, but that was Boston Bruins hockey." One thing I noticed that you have to do if your the Lightning, and that is get players to the net. Thomas will come out of his crease to make a save, so if you have someone there it will most likely be a goal. That's what I havn't seen from the Lightning in this series unless it was on a powerplay. So that's what they will need to do if they want to win.
Game 4 will be Saturday afternoon in Tampa on TSN and RDS. I will not be writing about game 4 of this series this weekend. I will update the results on Monday with highlights.
Written by Andrew Di Pardo
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