Defensive Meltdowns Cripple Bruins

Three defensive breakdowns by the Bruin led to a trio of third-period goals as the Tampa Bay Lightning took Game 5 by the score of 5-3. Their all-time playoff series now stands at 3-2 in games in favor of Boston as the teams head back to Boston Garden.

The Bruins took the lead on Johnny Bucyk's third goal of the series. His intended pass to the front of the Lightning net deflected off the pads of Andrei Vasilevskiy and slipped through his legs at 2:29 of the first stanza. Frederic Modin tied the score as his wrist shot beat a screened Gerry Cheevers high on the stick side. It was only one of three shots directed at the Boston goal in the period.

Brad Marchand put the Bruins back in front in the second period beating Vasilevskiy in the slot, but once again the Lightning answered as Vinnie Prospal got his first goal of the playoffs. It was a harbinger of things to come for the Boston defense. It looked as though the puck would be easily handled in front of the Boston net but it bounced off Bobby Orr's stick as he began to skate up ice.

The sloppiness continued in the third in the defensive zone for the Bruins. The puck was stripped from Phil Esposito to initiate a nifty passing play by Steve Stamkos to Nikita Kucherov, and he hammered his first goal of the playoffs past Cheevers only 29 seconds into the period. It was then Vincent Lecavalier's turn to benefit from a Bruin miscue as Zdeno Chara tried to corral a rebound in front of the net but lost the puck. Lecavalier scooped it up and backhanded the puck over Cheever's glove. Martin St. Louis notched the third unanswered Tampa Bay goal as Brad Richards pushed the puck past Eddie Shore, and St. Louis beat Cheevers on the stick side. Terry O'Reilly attempted to rally the troops by stuffing a rebound past Vasilevskiy to close the gap. David Pastrnak came so close to pushing the score to 5-4 as he crashed the Tampa Bay net and slid a backhand off the post. The puck slid across the goal mouth along the goal line, hit the other post, and stayed out. Cam Neely sent a message in the waning minutes when he got into a tussle with Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Neely took exception to Sergachev's high hit on sniper Phil Esposito and took him out behind the woodshed. We'll see if this ignites a more spirited effort, particularly with regard to puck management, for Boston in Game 6.