The Bruins’ backs are up against the wall.
Boston allowed a goal in the first period and two in the second in its 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday afternoon in Game 4 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series.
Jake DeBrusk had the Bruins’ lone goal, while Ondrej Palat (twice) and Victor Hedman scored the goals for the Lightning.
The Bruins now are down 3-1 and must win the next three games if they want to pack their bags for Edmonton.
Here’s how it all went down:
LIGHTNING STRIKE FIRST IN PHYSICAL OPENING PERIOD
The Bruins found themselves down one after the first 20 minutes.
Tampa had two prime scoring chances from Nikita and Barclay Goodrow, but Jaroslav Halak denied them both to keep it a scoreless game.
Boston killed off two penalties, but Palat found the back of the net at the 8:59 mark on a bad turnover from Chris Wagner in the neutral zone.
Brayden Point fed the puck to a net-front Palat who buried it for the 1-0 lead.
Things did get chippy once Cedric Paquette hit Karson Kuhlman from behind, something Nick Ritchie didn’t take kindly to as he took Paquette down in the corner, resulting in a roughing penalty for the Bruins forward.
A solid kill from the B’s kept the game 1-0.
A kerfuffle ensued after the horn sounded that resulted in the B’s beginning the second on the man advantage. Erik Cernak went after David Pastrnak and was whistled for roughing.
Boston outshot Tampa 9-8.
TWO MORE FOR TAMPA
The B’s were unable to capitalize on the power play despite generating some solid scoring chances.
Boston continued to put pressure on Andrei Vasilevskiy, but the goalie stood on his head to keep the B’s off the board.
Connor Clifton took a cross-checking penalty at the 5:46 mark to put Tampa on the power play for the third time in the game. But the penalty kill remained perfect.
But Palat’s stick stayed hot and he doubled Tampa Bay’s lead with 7:31 to go on a goal Halak should have got his glove on.
Palat one-timed a pass from Kucherov for the 2-0 edge.
Nick Ritchie was assessed a five-minute major for boarding Yanni Gourde with 6:28 to go on a play where the puck clearly was nowhere near Gourde.
And the Lightning opened up a three-goal lead.
A Hedman blast from the point off Par Lindholm’s skate and by Halak.
Zach Bogosian was called for holding David Pastrnak in the final minute and the Bruins would begin the third up a man once again.
The Lightning outshot the Bruins in the second 12-10.
TAMPA TAKES GAME 4
The Bruins began period No. 3 on the power play and ended up with a 5-on-3 for 10 seconds.
Boston couldn’t generate chances in those 10 seconds and the same could be said about the remaining power play.
But the Black and Gold finally responded on the PP when Ondrej Kase put up a perfect screen to allow DeBrusk to fire the puck five-hole on Vasilevskiy to make it 3-1.
But that would be all Boston would muster despite pulling Halak with just over two minutes left in the game.
And just like that, the Bruins found themselves up against elimination.
UP NEXT
The B’s and Bolts will play Game 5 on Monday night. Puck drop from Scotiabank Arena is set for 7 p.m. ET.
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