Espo's Thunder Shocks Lightning

 

One of Cheevers' 19 stops

Phil Esposito scooped up a Rick Middleton feed and blasted a rocket past Andrei Vasilevskiy to give Boston a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series. With the series now even at a game apiece, the scene shifts to the TD Garden.

The Bruins made a change in goal for Game 2 as Gerry Cheevers got the nod over Game 1 starter Tim Thomas. Even though he wasn't heavily taxed, Cheevers came up big with a couple of key saves to help secure the victory.

Brad Marchand opened the scoring with his second goal in as many games streaking down the right side and beating all-star Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. Vasilevskiy committed early, and Marchand whipped the puck into the open side.  Tampa Bay's fourth line then went to work and Anthony Cirelli was the recipient of a favorable deflection. He collected a Fredrick Modin rebound in front of Cheevers and his shot glanced in off Zdeno Chara who was attempting to foil Cirelli's bid.