TORONTO -- The Tampa Bay Lightning evened the series against the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Boston Bruins, after an overtime goal from Ondrej Palat put the Bolts up 4-3 in Game 2.
Boston drew first blood after a goal from Nick Ritchie in the first period. Shortly after the Bruins goal, the Lightning thought they had tied the game until the goal was called back due to a narrow offside from Brayden Point.
Blake Coleman finally put Tampa Bay on the board after a diving goal just under 13 minutes into the first period.
Will you still call Blake Coleman (@BColes25) Superman? #StanleyCup
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In the second period, Bruins' Brad Marchand found the back of the net to bring Boston up 2-1 a little over 14 minutes into the period. A little less than a minute later, Bolts' Nikita Kucherov answered with a goal to tie the game up at 2-2.
In the third period, Blake Coleman scored his second goal of the game to put the Bolts up 3-2 a little past the midway point. With less than four minutes into the third period, Brad Marchand scored his second goal of the game to draw even at 3 goals apiece.
Palat cashed in on an assist from teammates Yanni Gourde and Pat Maroon to score the game-winning goal.
The Bolts dropped Game 1 to the Bruins after falling short 3-2. Tampa Bay nearly came back from a 3-0 deficit through the middle of the third period after a pair of late goals from Victor Hedman.
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.
