Bruins 3 - 5 Lightning
Final
  for this game

Lightning host Bruins in Game 4 of East finals

May 21, 2011 - 2:37 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins will try to extend their lead in the Eastern Conference finals when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning for Game 4 at St. Pete Times Forum.

The clubs split the first two tests of this best-of-seven series in Boston, with Tampa taking Game 1 and the Bruins knotting the set in the second meeting. The Bruins then grabbed a 2-1 edge in the series with Thursday's shutout victory in Florida.

The Bruins notched a 2-0 win on Thursday, making Game 3 the lowest-scoring affair of a series that featured a combined 18 goals over the first two games. Tampa scored five times in each of the first two games before getting blanked on Thursday.

Tim Thomas stopped all 31 shots he faced for his second career playoff shutout. The Vezina Trophy finalist turned aside 15 shots in the final period to secure the win.

"Thomas saw a lot of the pucks," said Lightning winger Martin St. Louis. "We didn't make his job tough enough."

David Krejci and Andrew Ference scored for Boston, which received a boost from the return of Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins' valuable two-way forward had been out since suffering a concussion in Game 4 of Boston's sweep of Philadelphia in the conference semifinals. Bergeron played a little more than 19 minutes on Thursday and took two shots.

Tampa Bay goaltender Dwayne Roloson allowed both goals on 25 shots, and gave up the first only 69 seconds into the game.

"Getting the first quick goal definitely helped the whole team," Thomas said. "Not just sitting back in the third, but going out and getting that second goal made us able to stay relaxed and calm throughout the whole game."

The Lightning have now lost two straight games after winning eight in a row.

Tampa is 3-3 as the host in these playoffs and Thursday's loss was the club's first on home ice since losing Game 4 of the conference quarterfinals to Pittsburgh in double overtime.

The Lightning were 25-11-5 at St. Pete Times Forum during the regular season.

Boston had a strong 24-12-5 record as the visiting team this season and is 5-1 on the road in the 2011 postseason.

The Bruins are in the conference finals for the first time since 1992 and they lost their previous two trips to this stage since last making an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1990. Tampa wound up winning the franchise's only Stanley Cup title in 2004, when it made its only other trip to the conference finals.

Game 5 of this series is scheduled for Monday in Boston.






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