Boston Bruins v Tampa Bay Lightning - Game One
Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images

By Mike Cratty | Follow me on Twitter @Mike_Cratty

Boston’s Lineup

Forwards

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak

DeBrusk – Krejci – Kase

Ritchie – Coyle – Wagner

Nordstrom – Lindholm

Defense

Chara – McAvoy

Krug – Carlo

Grzelcyk – Lauzon

Moore

Goalies

Halak

Vladar

Tampa Bay’s Lineup

Forwards

Palat – Point – Kucherov

Killorn – Cirelli – Johnson

Goodrow – Gourde – Coleman

Paquette – Maroon

Defense

Hedman – Bogosian

Sergachev – Shattenkirk

Coburn – Cernak

Schenn

Goalies

Vasilevskiy

McElhinney

First Period

Brandon Carlo took a tripping penalty just 37 seconds into the game. Luckily they killed it off to avoid an early game scare and allowed zero shots while doing it.

Nick Ritchie took a slashing penalty with 7:43 left and Ondrej Palat made it hurt quickly. His goal at the 7:14 mark gave the Lightning the lead. Just 15 seconds later, Yanni Gourde took advantage of a linesman accidentally colliding with the defending Jeremy Lauzon and extended the lead to two goals. Shots in an ugly first period for the Bruins were actually 8-7 in their favor, oddly enough.

Score: 2-0 Tampa Bay

Second Period

Another early penalty came the Bruins way. This time it was a high-sticking penalty on Patrice Bergeron a minute and 18 seconds in. Mikhail Sergachev buried a rocket from the point to give the Lightning a three-goal lead two minutes and 14 seconds in.

Zach Bogosian took the first Lightning penalty for tripping at the 16:19 mark. Brad Marchand got the Bruins on the board in nearly identical fashion as he did for the first time last night. His seventh of the playoffs was assisted byb Torey Krug (6) and David Pastrnak (7). Krug went down the tunnel right after the goal, but came back to the bench in no time.

Charlie McAvoy took a roughing penalty and yet again the Lightning made it hurt. this time it was Alex Killorn with 11:25 left, making it 4-1. A few minutes passed and Dan Vladar stepped into the crease for his NHL debut in quite the predicament. His debut marked the first time a Bruins goaltender has made his NHL debut in a playoff game in NHL history.

Unfortunately for him, he was left alone with Brayden Point and Point scored his team’s fifth goal of the game to make it 5-1 with 4:37 to go. Torey Krug and Tyler Johnson fought after the goal. Things were really unravelling in a bad way for the Bruins. Alex Killorn added insult to injury with his second of the game and his team’s sixth goal to make it 6-1 with 1:59 to go. Shots in the period were 18-8 in favor of the Lightning in the second period, bringing the total to 25-16 in their favor.

Score: 6-1 Tampa Bay

Third Period

Things got worse as Nikita Kucherov added a seventh goal after some sweet stickhandling from Brayden Point before finding Kucherov in the slot. It was 7-1 with 16:02 to go. McAvoy went off for a ten-minute roughing and misconduct call at the ten-minute mark of the period. Ondrej Kase served the penalty.

Patrice Bergeron took a too many men on the ice penalty at 3:18. Just when you thought this game couldn’t get worse, it did on multiple occasions. Cedric Paquette then took an interference penalty almost immediately off the draw.

Blake Coleman and David Krejci got in a scrap and both got put in timeout. Torey Krug took an unsportsmanlike penalty for hastily sending a puck at a referee. This whole game was pretty much a mess. The shots in the final 20 minutes were 8-6 in favor of the Bruins, bringing the game total to 31-24 in favor of the Lightning. The worst Bruins playoff loss since a 9-3 loss to the Sabres in 1992. The Bruins are going to need much more on Friday in game four, which is set for 7:30 PM ET.

Final Score: 7-1 Tampa Bay

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