Point, Lightning hold off Bruins to even series
Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point each scored one goal, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Boston Bruins 4-2 Monday night at Amalie Arena.
Point had an empty-net goal and three assists for the Lightning, who evened the best-of-seven series at a game apiece. Game 3 will be played in Boston on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 18 shots.
Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug scored one goal apiece and Brad Marchand had two assists for the Bruins.
Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask made 27 saves in the loss.
David Pastrnak was whistled for a double minor for high sticking in the third period, giving the Lightning a four-minute power play. The Bruins killed off the double minor and still trailed by a goal with 8:30 remaining in the game.
The Lightning surged ahead 3-1 when Palat scored at 14:08. Point registered his third assist on the huge goal, which helped to secure the victory.
Krug got the Bruins within one goal at 15:58 -- his third tally of the playoffs.
Tampa Bay went ahead 2-1 when Johnson flipped the puck over Rask's shoulder and into the back of the net at 10:14 of the second.
The Bruins received a power play when Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman was called for holding, but they couldn't capitalize for the third time on the man advantage.
The Lightning dominated most of the first, outshooting Boston 9-0 to open the game. On an early power play, Steven Stamkos skated in and fired a shot from a tough angle that was saved by Rask.
Tampa Bay kept up the offensive pressure on another power play and struck first for a 1-0 lead when Gourde scored at 11:47 on the team's 10th shot.
The Bruins finally responded and were awarded a two-man advantage for 1:45 after penalties to Johnson and Ryan McDonagh. Pastrnak immediately clanged a wrist shot off the post. Bruins center David Krejci then ripped a slap shot with 19 seconds left and saw the laser ricochet off both posts and out of the crease.
McAvoy then tied the game at 1 for Boston at 18:30.
--Field Level Media
