Claude Julien said afterwards that tonight’s game resembled the style of game everyone was expecting going into the series. Guy Boucher agreed.
The Bruins maintained a disciplined system to keep the Lightning scoreless through three periods, giving the Boston Bruins 2-0 win.
“It was down to who was gonna make that one lethal mistake,” said Boucher, “and we made it early.”
David Krejci scored an early goal for to open the scoring at 1:09. Boston maintained the 1-0 lead through the third period, when Andrew Ference scored again to finish at 2-0.
The Lightning didn’t fall apart, they didn’t give up, but they were unable to recover from the early defensive mistake that paved the way for the Boston win.
The return of faceoff superstar Patrice Bergeron in the Bruin’s lineup proved efficient, winning 18 of 28 faceoffs to give Boston the edge to finish. But despite P. Bergeron, the Lightning regained a share of faceoff success, improving through the second and third periods to end with a middling 43% faceoff win percentage.
Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots on Boston’s net to shut out the Bolts, but even those “weren’t quality chances,” according to Martin St. Louis. “We’ve got to make Thomas’s job a little tougher.”
Dwayne Roloson made 23 saves for the Lightning to solidify the resistance against the Bruins. As for scoring opportunities, though hard to come by, Teddy Purcell led shots for the Bolts with 6, followed by Vincent Lecavalier with 5, and Steven Stamkos with 4.
With tonight’s tight effort from the two teams – a complete contrast to games one and two – it’s looking like this series is going to be a long one.
Other Recaps:
Bruins vs Lightning coverage [SB Nation]
Bruins vs Lightning recap [TSN]
Bruins vs Lightning boxscore [TSN]
Stanley Cup of Chowder [SB Nation]
