Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 3, Bruins 2 (Final; Final/Shootout):
Shootout Results
Brenden Morrow (TBL): Stopped
Patrice Bergeron (BOS): Stopped
Victor Hedman (TBL): Scored
David Krejci (BOS): Stopped
Ryan Callahan (TBL): Stopped
Loui Eriksson (BOS): Stopped
Tampa Bay wins 3-2 in shootout. Boston’s season has ended.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 2, Bruins 2 (Final; Shootout): We’re headed to a shootout.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 2, Bruins 2 (Final; Overtime): Ryan Spooner fires a shot off the post two minutes into overtime.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 2, Bruins 2 (Final; Third Period): The Bruins have tied the game on Brad Marchand’s team-leading 24th goal of the season.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 2, Bruins 1 (Final; Third Period): Tampa Bay is holding onto a 1-goal lead with 2:41 left in regulation. Several of the Lightning’s best players have been kept on the bench to avoid an injury before the playoffs.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 2, Bruins 1 (Final; Third Period): The Penguins have defeated the Sabres 2-0, which eliminates the Bruins from the playoff race. There’s 10:40 left in Boston’s season.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 2, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Third Period): The Lightning have taken the lead with a goal from Nikita Nesterov at 5:12 of the period.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Third Period): Tampa Bay has killed the penalty and we’re back to even strength.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Third Period): Brian Boyle is stopped by Tuukka Rask on a breakaway just a few seconds into Boston’s third power play of the game.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Third Period): Bruins-Lightning has resumed for the third period.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Second Intermission): The Penguins have taken a 2-0 third-period lead on Brandon Sutter’s second goal of the game, which puts the Bruins in a tough position because they need Pittsburgh to lose in some sort of fashion for a chance to reach the playoffs.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Second Intermission): The Bruins and Lightning are tied after 40 minutes.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Second Period): A golden chance for the Bruins, but Torey Krug is unable to score.
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Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Third Period; Second Period): Penguins-Sabres has resumed for the third period. Pittsburgh secures a playoff spot with any type of win.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Second Intermission; Second Period): Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman has gone down the tunnel after taking a high stick from Carl Soderberg.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Second Intermission; Second Period): Steven Stamkos is unable to connect on a cross-crease pass during a 2-on-1 scoring chance and the Bruins dodge a bullet.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Second Intermission; Second Period): The Bruins are all over the Lightning right now. They are spending the majority of play in the attacking zone and firing many shots toward Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop. This is the level of desperation many people expected the B’s to play with over the last few weeks.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 1 (Second Intermission; Second Period): The Bruins have tied it just 52 seconds after Tampa Bay struck first. Loui Eriksson made a nice play at the edge of the crease to capitalize on a rebound.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Lightning 1, Bruins 0 (Second Intermission; Second Period): Jonathan Marchessault scores his first career NHL goal and the Lightning have opened the scoring.
Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (Second Period; Second Period): Bruins-Lightning has resumed.
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Penguins 1, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (Second Period; Second Period): The Penguins have taken the lead.
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Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (Second Period; First Intermission): Penguins forward David Perron was shaken up a bit, but he’s remained in the game.
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Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (Second Period; First Intermission): The Bruins and Lightning are scoreless after the first period. Boston leads 19-10 in shot attempts, as the following image shows.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (Second Period; First Period): The Lightning have killed the penalty and we’re back to even strength. The Bruins tallied three shots on goal during the power play.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (Second Period; First Period): The Bruins killed the Adam McQuaid penalty and will now go on a power play of their own following a too many men on the ice call on the Lightning.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (Second Period; First Period): Penguins-Sabres has resumed.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Intermission; First Period): The Bruins will be shorthanded for the first time tonight. Adam McQuaid is penalized for an illegal hit to the head of Vladislav Namestnikov. The Lightning forward laid on the ice for a bit before going down the tunnel toward the locker room.
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Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Intermission; First Period): The Lightning just had their first period of lengthy attacking-zone pressure, but Tuukka Rask made a good save on a Steven Stamkos shot from the slot before the puck eventually went out of play on a deflection. A Tampa Bay defensive zone faceoff is coming up after the TV timeout.
Penguins-Sabres still is in the first intermission.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Intermission; First Period): Boston is dominating puck possession so far. Tampa Bay just tallied its first shot on goal 9:14 into the game.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Intermission; First Period): The Penguins and Sabres are tied through 20 minutes.
[tweet https://twitter.com/JoeYerdon/status/587039422031470593 align=”center”]
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Period): The Bruins are getting their first power play of the game. The first PP unit is Ryan Spooner-Loui Eriksson-Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci-Torey Krug.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Period): Good start for the Bruins in the opening five shifts. The Patrice Bergeron line has two shots and good offensive zone pressure.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Period): Buffalo will take this swap any time.
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Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Period): The puck has been dropped in Bruins-Lightning! Tuukka Rask is 8-1-0 with a .934 save percentage in his last nine games against Tampa Bay.
Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Period): Penguins defenseman Taylor Chorney just hit the left post off a shot from inside the right faceoff circle. Pittsburgh has turned the tide in its favor over the last few minutes.
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Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Period):Â Good start for the Sabres on home ice.
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Penguins 0, Sabres 0; Bruins 0, Lightning 0 (First Period): Lines and pairings for the Bruins in warmup. Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille are expected to be healthy scratches.
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Penguins 0, Sabres 0 (First Period): Pittsburgh is playing with only five defensemen tonight because of injuries and salary cap-related issues.
7:10 pm: Tuukka Rask (Boston) and Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay) have led their teams onto the ice for pre-game warmups. Meanwhile, Penguins-Sabres is about to begin.
7:05 pm: The Boston Bruins’ chances of reaching the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs took a hit when the Ottawa Senators clinched a postseason berth with a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon.
However, the Bruins can still earn a playoff spot with a win over the Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 p.m. ET, NESN) and help from the Pittsburgh Penguins-Buffalo Sabres game (7:00 p.m. ET, ROOT/MSG-B).
If the Penguins lose in regulation, any Bruins win over the Lightning would qualify the Original Six club for the postseason. A Pens loss in overtime or a shootout would require the Bruins to defeat the Bolts in regulation to clinch a berth.
You might think that the Penguins beating the Sabres is a slam dunk, but a look at both teams’ recent stats would suggest that anything is possible.
[tweet https://twitter.com/MikeKellyNHL/status/586974038376849409 align=”center”]
Pittsburgh has won just three of the last 10 games and will be without its two best defensemen, Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff, on Saturday night.
Another factor to consider is that Buffalo already has clinched 30th place in the NHL, which gives it the best chance at landing the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. The Sabres can play the role of spoiler and not impact their chances of landing prized prospect Connor McDavid.
Stay with this article throughout the night for score updates, video highlights and updated playoff scenarios from both Bruins-Lightning and Penguins-Sabres.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
