Bruins/Lighting Game 3 Recap

After the 11 goals in Game 2 and 18 games for the series, the last thing anyone would expect for Game 3 was a low-scoring defensive battle, especially with the return of Patrice Bergeron. 1:09 into the first period, Krejci scored on a rebound from a shot by Milan Lucic. Another quick goal in the beginning of the game gave fans the feeling that the floodgates just opened. On the contrary, there would be no more goals until the third.

As expected, this game included some incredible saves. Most notably, Tim Thomas had a no-look spin-o-rama save with 13 minutes left in the first period off a turnaround slapper from Vinny LeCavalier. Greg Campbell had a turnaround slapper of his own with 9 minutes left in the first that Roloson stopped in which lead to a skirmish in front of the net. It was the first major sign of fisticuffs between the two teams. Both goalies played as their teams expected them to.

Scary moment with 2 minutes left in the first. Marc-Andre Bergeron slammed David Krejci on an open-ice hit in which Krejci had his head down. Krejci looked visibly shaken and all Bruins fans held their breath. One would have to remember what happened in last years’ series against the Flyers in which Mike Richards’ very similar hit lead to a broken wrist for Krejci. The Bruins were up 3-0 in the series before the injury, then lost the next 4. The rest is very forgettable history for the Bs.
Thankfully, Krejci returned and all was well. The Bruins barely got by without Bergeron, no way could they lose Krejci too.


With 13 minutes left in the third period, Andrew Ference launched the puck from just inside the blue line, which trickled right through the 5-hole of Roloson. It was essentially the nail in the coffin for the Lightning for they would not even score for the rest of the game.

Tim Thomas played great in the shut-out, stopping a total of 31 shots. He showed who the best goalie of the playoffs really is, despite letting up 10 goals in the first two games. Now the Bruins are 2 wins away from the Stanley Cup Finals, their first since 1990. Needless to say, it has been a while since Boston has been this excited about a Bruins team. They have the parts to do something special, something that hasn’t been done in over 20 years.

Game 4 is Saturday at 1:30 PM on NBC.