Palat's OT winner brings Lightning even with Bruins

[August 26, 2020]  Ondrej Palat's overtime goal gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins Tuesday night in Toronto and evened their Stanley Cup playoff series.

Blake Coleman scored twice and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the Lightning, collecting his 22nd playoff win to move past Nikolai Khabibulin and Ben Bishop for the most in franchise history.

The teams are tied at 1-1, with Game 3 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal set for Wednesday.

Palat pounced on a loose puck lying near the crease at 4:40 of overtime for the Lightning, who have won all three of their postseason games that have gone to overtime.

Three times leads were lost in the thrilling affair.

Boston's Nick Ritchie opened the scoring to cap a strong shift for the third line, his first goal of the playoffs. Anders Bjork's one-timer was stopped, but Ritchie crashed the net and repeatedly whacked at the loose puck before he knocked it across the goal line at the 3:14 mark.

However, Coleman evened the score with a goal worth watching over and over. Defenseman Zach Bogosian split a pair of defenders while rushing the puck up ice and slid the puck to the slot, where Coleman dove to get his stick on it to convert a redirection at 12:42.

Brad Marchand again put the Bruins ahead with a late second-period power-play marker when he redirected a perfect pass from David Pastrnak into the cage at 14:33 of the frame.

Lightning forward Ondrej Palat (18) scores the game winning goal during the overtime period of game two of the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

But Nikita Kucherov replied 55 seconds later to make it 2-2. Brayden Point zigged and zagged to elude a series of checkers before sending a cross-ice pass that Kucherov one-timed just inside the far post.

Coleman gave the Lightning their first lead of the series midway through the third period, snapping a five-hole for his second goal of the night.

Marchand responded with his second of the game with 3:58 left in regulation, chipping a loose puck into the cage to finish a dominating shift for his team's top line.

Without minute-munching defenseman Ryan McDonagh in the lineup due to an injury suffered in the third period of the series opener, the Lightning opted to dress seven blueliners, with both Braydon Coburn and Luke Schenn drawing in for their first action since the restart.

Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots in the loss.

--Field Level Media

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