Well, we have ourselves a series.
The Eastern Conference semifinals matchup between the Bruins and Lightning now is deadlocked at one game apiece following Tampa Bay’s 4-3 win in overtime Tuesday. Tampa Bay largely was the better team throughout Game 2, but it needed sudden death to put away Boston.
The Bolts caught a break on their OT tally. Jaroslav Halak failed to glove an Ondrej Palat wrister, and Tampa Bay’s first-line left wing ultimately finished off the sequence by sneaking in the back door and getting one over Halak’s glove side.
After the game, the Bruins netminder broke down the game-sealing play.
“You know, it was a shot from my left side that kind of hit my glove. I didn’t catch it,” Halak told reporters via video conference. “They just tried to wrap around and I just tried to get there and somehow it just made it to the other side. It’s just one of those plays. It happens, you know? I just got to be better and that’s the bottom line.”
Halak and the Bruins will need to quickly put their Game 2 loss behind them. Puck drop for Game 3 of the best-of-seven set is slated for 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
