TORONTO — The Tampa Bay Lightning held off a late push from the Boston Bruins to take Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs' second round.
The Lightning drew the first flood after Ondrej Palat found the back of the net via an assist from Brayden Point about nine minutes into the game.
Palat scored his second goal of the game (four in the postseason so far) after assists from Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov after 12 minutes into the second period.
Tampa Bay had a brief scare in the second period after Yanni Gourde was slammed into the board by Boston's Nick Ritchie. The linemen gave Ritchie a 5-minute major for the hit. Gourde was able to skate off the ice on his own after being looked at by trainers.
The Bolts cashed in on the 5-minute power play after Victor Hedman's shot bounced off Bruins' Par Lindholm's skate and the puck somehow ended up in the back of the net.
Jake DeBrusk's goal through the five-hole put the Bruins on board about seven minutes into the third period.
With the win, Tampa Bay now heads to Monday's Game 5 with a 3-1 series lead.
Both teams returned to the ice on Saturday after the league collectively postponed games Thursday and Friday in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin.
SERIES SCHEDULE
- Game 1: Bruins 3, Lightning 2
- Game 2: Lightning 4, Bruins 3 (OT)
- Game 3: Lightning 7, Bruins 1
- Game 4: Lightning 3, Bruins 1
- Game 5: Monday, August 31, 7 p.m.
- Game 6: September 1, TBD
- Game 7: September 2, TBD
HOW THEY GOT HERE
The Lightning secured the second seed in the Eastern Conference bracket after finishing second to the Philadelphia Flyers in round-robin play. Tampa Bay beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team the Lightning got swept by in the first round of the 2019 playoffs, in five hard-fought games.
Tampa Bay finished second in the pandemic-shortened regular season to the Boston Bruins. Despite finishing the regular season with the best record, the Bruins finished last in round-robin play so Boston secured the fourth seed in the first round of the playoffs.
The Bruins advanced to the second round after taking the series 4-1 over the Carolina Hurricanes.
