The Bruins earned a split in the two games in Tampa, but won't be too satisfied with that as they lose this one after seemingly being in control after the opening period.
The series now becomes a best of three as it shifts back to Boston for Game 5 on Monday.
Third Period, 19:23, Lightning 5-3: The Lightning put the finishing touches on this one as Martin St. Louis scores an empty-netter from Simon Gagne with Tim Thomas pulled for the extra attacker.
Third Period, 18:10, Lightning 4-3: The Bruins come close as Nathan Horton tips an Andrew Ference point shot at the left post, but Smith makes the stop.
Third Period, 17:41, Lightning 4-3: The Bruins are pressing the attack better of late and creating some chances in deep. They have a huge chance now after an icing call, and Tampa uses its timeout to rest its players before a key draw.
Third Period, 13:37, Lightning 4-3: Patrice Bergeron with Boston's best chance of the period, flipping a backhander from in front after Marchand stole Mike Smith's clearing attempt, but Smith got back in position to make the save.
Third Period, 12:30, Lightning 4-3: Martin St. Louis with a bid from the left side coming straight off the bench to collect a feed from Nate Thompson, but Thomas makes the stop.
Third Period, 11:44, Lightning 4-3: Lots of neutral-zone play right now, which is just what the Lightning want as they chew up the clock and cling to their one-goal lead.
Third Period, 6:54, Lightning 4-3: The Lightning have their first lead of the day as Simon Gagne scores from the slot.
Tomas Kaberle was hurt blocking a Victor Hedman shot and tried to get off the ice, but couldn't when Milan Lucic turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Ryan Malone, who quickly attacked with Gagne for the goal.
Third Period, 4:09, 3-3: The Lightning have maintained the momentum from the second period as they continue to press the attack. They have outshot Boston 6-0 to start the third.
Third Period, 1:54, 3-3: The Lightning threaten as Ryan Malone barrels down the left wing and cuts to the front of the net for a bid, but Thomas pokes checks the puck off his stick, then holds the fort in a wild scramble in front.
Third Period, 0:00, 3-3: The final, barring overtime, frame is under way here in Tampa, and it will be a huge period as the Bruins try to take a commanding 3-1 series lead and the Lightning look to even it 2-2.
The Bruins are 5-0 this postseason when tied after two periods, while the Lightning are 1-1 when tied after two.
Second Intermission Notes: The Bruins dominated the first period and built a 3-0 lead. The Lightning answered with an equally dominant second period, scoring three goals as well to tie it at 3-3. Now it all comes down to which team can win the third period.
The Bruins were very sloppy with the puck in the second, and those miscues ended up in their net three times in a 3:58 span early in the period. Boston has to clean up those mistakes and get back on the attack as they were in the first, when they controlled play and forced Tampa into making mistakes.
The Bruins also need to do a better job in the faceoff circle, where they have won just 34 percent of teh draws so far in this one (14-27). David Krejci has struggled the most at 2-8, while Chris Kelly is 1-4 and even Patrice Bergeron has a losing record at 6-7.
End Second Period, 3-3: The middle frame is in the books, and it's one the Bruins would love to forget after giving up three goals to the Lightning to make this one all even going into the third.
Second Period, 17:35, 3-3: The teams will play some 4 on 4 hockey as Nathan Horton is called for boarding Steve Downie, but Downie also gets sent off for diving for embellishing the hit.
Second Period, 15:27, 3-3: The Bruins have switched up their defense pairs in an effort to slow the Lightning attack. Tomas Kaberle is now playing with Johnny Boychuk, while Adam McQuaid is with Andrew Ference. Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg remain together on the top pair.
Second Period, 13:18, 3-3: The Lightning are continuing to carry the play here, as they are all over the Bruins with chances. Boston has to find a way to recover and get the ice tilted back in the other direction here soon.
Second Period, 10:53, 3-3: The Bruins killed off the penalty, but didn't stop Tampa's momentum as the Lightning tie it up on a Sean Bergenheim goal.
Bergenheim outmuscled Tomas Kaberle for the puck behind the net, came out and fired it home at the right post.
Second Period, 8:17, Bruins 3-2: The Lightning now go on the power play as Brad Marchand blasts Steven Stamkos with a huge hit behind the Lightning net, but Marchand gets called for interference.
Second Period, 7:58, Bruins 3-2: The Lightning are right back in this one as Teddy Purcell scores again to make it a one-goal game.
After Tyler Seguin slid to stop Vincent Lecavalier's wraparound at the left post, Purcell ripped a wrister in from the right slot.
Second Period, 6:55, Bruins 3-1: The Lightning have life, as a huge hit behind the net leads to a goal in front for Tampa.
Ryan Malone crunched Chara behind the net after Thomas left the puck for the Bruins captain. Gagne then collected the puck and passed it out to Teddy Purcell, who fired a backhander inside the left post.
Second Period, 5:52, Bruins 3-0: The Bruins come up empty on another power play, but the penalties have at least kept the Lightning off the attack and prevented them from trying to cut into the Bruins' lead.
Second Period, 3:52, Bruins 3-0: The Bruins will get another chance on the power play as Simon Gagne is called for goalie interference after crashing into Thomas at the top of the crease. the Bruins nearly scored on the delayed call with Zdeno Chara one-timing a blast from the right side.
Second Period, 2:00, Bruins 3-0: The Bruins can't get much going on that power-play chance, struggling to get out of their own end until late in the penalty when they finally created some pressure.
Second Period, 0:00, Bruins 3-0: The middle frame is under way here in Tampa, with the Bruins looking to build on their strong opening period as they start the second on the power play.
First Intermission Notes: The Bruin couldn't have asked for much more in that opening period, as they take a 3-0 lead and drive Dwayne Roloson from the net in the first 20 minutes.
Patrice Bergeron is making his presence felt with two goals on two shots in 6:18. Both were unassisted, with the second coming shorthanded. Michael Ryder has the other goal and played about as hard in that period as he has in any period since coming to Boston. He's thrown himself into scrums, dished out hits and is displaying his speed with drives to the net. Impressive showing so far for Ryder.
Rich Peverley got even more physical, dropping the gloves with Marc-Andre Bergeron in a fight at the end of the period. That scrum also earned Steve Downie a roughing minor and misconduct, so the Bruins will open the second period on the power play.
End First Period, Bruins 3-0: The first period ends with a bang, as a huge scrum develops with the Lightning trying to jam home the puck at the whistle.
That eventually leads to a scrap between unlikely combatants Rich Peverley and Marc-Andre Bergeron to put an exclamation point on a stellar opening 20 minutes for the Bruins.
First Period, 17:58, Bruins 3-0: The Bruins make it 3-0 as Patrice Bergeron scores again, this time shorthanded with a shot from the top of the left circle just seven seconds after Dennis Seidenberg was sent off for holding the stick.
That goal drives Dwayne Roloson from the net, as Mike Smith has now come on for Tampa Bay.
First Period, 16:34, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins strike again, with Michael Ryder making it a two-goal lead.
Ryder came down the left wing with Chris Kelly driving down the middle. Ryder's backhand pass to Kelly was blocked by Mike Lundin, but it popped up and fluttered into the net at the left post.
First Period, 16:16, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins nearly get a gift goal as Adam McQuaid's dump-in takes a strange hop off the right dasher and forces Roloson to make a sprawling save.
First Period, 15:16, Bruins 1-0: The biggest hit so far is landed on referee Dan O'Halloran, who goes down hard in the corner after an accidental collision with Bergeron. O'Halloran is being treated by the Lightning medical staff at the bench, and will stay in the game.
First Period, 11:47, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins strike first as Patrice Bergeron capitalizes on a Tampa turnover.
Victor Hedman's pass back to Brett Clark got away from his defense partner at the side of the net, and Bergeron pounced on the loose puck and banged it home at the left post for the all-important first goal.
First Period, 8:40, 0-0: The Bruins with another turnover in their own zone, but they again come up with a big shot block, this time Daniel Paille going down to painfully block a Marc-Andre Bergeron blast.
First Period, 7:25, 0-0: The Lightning threaten with Adam Hall trying to jam the puck in from the top of the crease. That brings Michael Ryder over for a brief scrum, but no penalties are called.
First Period, 6:12, 0-0: The Bruins with some sloppy play with a turnover at their own blue line, leading to a 2 on 1 down low, but Dennis Seidenberg comes up with a huge block on Martin St. Louis' shot from the right circle.
First Period, 3:51, 0-0: Thomas makes his first big stop of the day, sliding post to post to rob Sean Bergenheim after a crossing pass by Steve Downie.
First Period, 2:50, 0-0: Fast start to this one with both teams creating early chances in the opening minutes. Andrew Ference pinched in for a bid at the right post for Boston, while Brad Marchand made a nice backcheck to lift Teddy Purcell's stick to break up a Tampa threat.
First Period, 0:00, 0-0: We're under way here at the St. Pete Times Forum, as the Bruins look to take control of the series as they take a 2-1 lead into Game 4.
1:30 p.m.: The Bruins will again open with Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and Mark Recchi up front, Zdeno Chara and Andrew Ference on defense and Tim Thomas in goal.
The Lightning counter with Adam Hall, Nate Thompson and Dominic Moore up front, Victor Hedman and Mike Lundin on the blue line and Dwayne Roloson in net.
1:25 p.m.: The Bruins have officially scratched Shawn Thornton, Shane Hnidy and Steven Kampfer, plus the Black Aces.
The Lightning have scratched Pavel Kubina (head injury), Randy Jones, Blair Jones, Mattias Ritola, Mathieu Roy and Matt Smaby.
Dana Tyrell returns to the lineup for the Lightning. He's been out with a foot injury. Blair Jones comes out of the lineup for Tyrell, as Tampa sticks with 12 forwards for the second straight game after playing with 11 for the first two games of the series.
1:10 p.m.: No changes in the Bruins lines in warm-ups. Shawn Thornton skated, but did not participate in the line drills. He'll be a scratch again for this one as expected. Shane Hnidy and Steven Kampfer are also on the ice, but not in the drills.
Here are the full line combinations from warm-ups:
Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi
Ryder-Kelly-Seguin
Paille-Campbell-Peverley
Defense pairs:
Chara-Seidenberg
Kaberle-McQuaid
Ference-Boychuk
1 p.m.: The Bruins and Lightning have taken the ice for warm-ups at the St. Pete Times Forum. As expected, Tim Thomas and Dwayne Roloson led the teams out. That will be the goaltending matchup once again.
Everyone else is on the ice for the Bruins, including defenseman Steven Kampfer, who is skating in warm-ups for the first time this postseason.
6 a.m.: After stumbling out of the gates in their first conference final appearance in 19 years, the Bruins have gotten back on track with back-to-back wins over Tampa Bay to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference final.
Thursday's effort was particularly impressive, as Tim Thomas and the Bruins blanked the Lightning 2-0 in their own building in Game 3. Now Boston has a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead with another victory at the St. Pete Times Forum in Game 4 on Saturday.
The Bruins are two wins away from their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1990, but even as the goal appears tantalizingly close, the Bruins won't allow themselves to look past this game.
"We don't even talk about that, honestly," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Right now, all we've talked about is how important a game [Saturday] is for us. We don't want to live in the past. Yesterday was yesterday. Tomorrow is what we want to talk about. We want to live in the present. And today is about getting some good rest and making sure that tomorrow we're well rested, we've got the energy and the focus to do a job.
"That's what we've been doing since the start," Julien said. "And that's what's helped us get through it. [It was] the same thing in Montreal. We lost the first two games. We went to Montreal not thinking about the two losses but what we had to do that night. It's really helped us get through things, and that's what our guys are all about right now. So I don't have to worry about [looking ahead], because we're not thinking that way."
The Bruins are thinking about how hard the Lightning will come out on Saturday as they will be desperate to avoid falling into a 3-1 hole. Tampa battled back from that deficit in the opening round against Pittsburgh, but the Lightning don't want to press their luck by trying to win three straight elimination games again.
"It's always a must-win," Tampa coach Guy Boucher said. "They're all must-wins. It's do or die every game. But it's a four out of seven. One of these teams has to win four. It's not two. … We were expecting a long series, and we're still expecting a long series."
A Tampa victory on Saturday evens the series and turns this conference final into a best-of-three sprint to the finish. But the Bruins can take control with another win of their own and have a chance to close out the series on home ice in Game 5 if they put together another strong performance like they did on Thursday night.
The puck drops early at 1:30 p.m. for this playoff matinee, so check back here throughout the day for updates on all the action from Tampa.
