Lightning Vs. Bruins, Game 2: Lightning Get Goals Early, Late to Lead 2-1 After First Period

The Tampa Bay Lightning had one of the strangest periods in Stanley Cup Playoff history. They got one goal at 13 seconds of the first period, and another with 6.5 seconds remaining in the first period. The Boston Bruins’ domination of everything in between kept them competitive, but Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final is at 2-1 in favor of Tampa Bay after 20 minutes at TD Garden.

The first goal came on a wacky sort of play, and quickly at that. After winning the opening face-off, the Bruins couldn’t get the puck deep in the Tampa Bay zone, so they came up with a rush. Vincent Lecavalier back-handed one that deflected wide. It rebounded almost instantly off the boards, and Adam Hall alertly back-handed it himself behind an out-of-position Tim Thomas to make it 1-0. It was Hall’s first goal of the post-season and it came at only 13 seconds of the period.

From that point on, the Bruins dominated offensive play for the rest of the period. Tampa Bay went over 12 minutes without a shot, while the Bruins pummeled Dwayne Roloson with bids, as the 41-year old netminder was stunning for most of the period. The Lightning didn’t help him by taking three consecutive penalties, and giving the Bruins a 1:22-long 5-on-3. It took them all but one second of that second penalty to finally connect for only the third time of the post-season. Nathan Horton tipped a Dennis Seidenberg shot past Roloson to tie the game at 1. It was Horton’s sixth of the playoffs, and it was the first road goal scored on the power play against Tampa of the post-season, as they’d been 46-for-46 before that.

The Lightning got their legs back and got a power play themselves, but did not do much with it. Late in the period, Steven Stamkos was able to get an edge down the wing. He did the spin-o-rama move, back-handed it, and the puck deflected off of Martin St. Louis and past Thomas. St. Louis got his seventh goal of the post-season at 19:53, and it was 2-1 Tampa Bay. The Lightning were out-shot 18-11 in the first period, and spent 12 minutes without even getting a shot, but when they showed up in the period, they were lethal.