Cheevers Stonewalls Lightning Onslaught

 

Cheevers foils Kucherov at point-blank range

Bruins' netminder Gerry Cheevers turned aside 14 third-period chances by the Tampa Bay Lightning to secure a 5-2 victory and send Boston to the quarterfinals in my all-time Stanley Cup playoff. Boston ousted the Lightning in six games and will now move on to face the Detroit Red Wings.

The fireworks began early as Ray Bourque didn't hear an offside whistle and drilled a shot toward the Tampa Bay goal. Victor Hedman took exception and tried to give the Lightning an emotional lift in the face of a raucous Boston Garden crowd by taking Bourque on with some fisticuffs. Unfortunately, it backfired as Bourque got the better of Hedman in their bout. 

It was an ominous beginning for Cheevers who only faced 3 shots in the first period but allowed a goal just as he did in Game 5. Halfway through the frame, Nikita Kucherov was beautifully set up at the side of the goal by Steven Stamkos on the powerplay to give Tampa Bay the lead. Rugged Bruins' winger Terry O'Reilly cashed in on a rebound with 2:15 left in the period for his second goal in as many games to send the teams to the dressing room tied at 1-1.

Brandon Hagel gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 advantage by shelving a snapshot over Cheevers on the short side. David Pastrnak then leveled the ledger with a powerplay goal as the teams moved into the third knotted up once again.

Tampa Bay turned up the heat and took the play to Boston in the final frame. Gerry Cheevers held the fort with some of his best saves included in the highlight reel, and Cam Neely delivered the dagger sneaking a rather weak backhander past Andrei Vasilevskiy. In the waning moments of the period, frustration hit its peak as Victor Hedman became involved in his second altercation of the game but clearly chose the wrong dance partner in Zdeno Chara. Hedman's bravado was snuffed out in a decisive decision in Chara's favor. Johnny Bucyk took an opportunity to pad his stats with the Tampa Bay net empty and collected two goals to salt things away. With those two goals, Bucyk moved into a three-way tie for most goals in the opening playoff round.

Series results in opening round

First-Round Leading Scorers

First-Round Top Goalies