Thursday, 4 a.m.
Say this for the Tampa Bay Lightning. It can take a punch.
So many breaks, and so many calls, went against the Lightning early in Wednesday night's game against Boston in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Still, the Lightning overcame them all, and Ondrej Palat's goal with 4:40 left in overtime gave the team a 4-3 victory that felt like a mountain climber who had fallen several times but still makes it to the top.
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For instance:
-- On Boston's first goal of the night, Zach Bogosian's stick breaks. And the goal, after several whacks, trickled across the end line as the Bolts' bench howled.
-- After that, the Lighting scored to tie the game, but Brayden Point was called for being offsides on the play. The goal was disallowed.
--- In the third period, when the Bolts had finally taken a 3-2 lead, Brad Marchant scored with 3:58 to play to force overtime.
Despite it all, the Lightning stayed the course and found a way to even the series at 1-1. The teams play again tonight at 8 p.m.
"If you want to have any chance of winning and going deep in the playoffs, adversity strikes in the weirdest way, and you never know when it’s going to happen," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "Sometimes you're just dealt a sandwich that doesn’t taste very good.
“If there was one message that was going on, (it was that) we liked everything that was going on in the game. I know it sounds so cliche, but we just had to stick with it. If you have mental weakness at all, you’re probably saying ‘poor us.’ But that’s not this group. That's not how they operate. Anytime there is a mishap, they just turn the page. It was needed tonight."
Give credit to the Bolts' front office for this one. The decision to import Blake Coleman (two goals), Zach Bogosian (an assist) and Barclay Goodrow ( the negated goal) paid off in this game.
Coleman's first goal was a highlight reel special. Bogosian dived and passed the puck to his left. Coleman, in turn, dived and slid the puck past Bruins' goalie Jaroslav Halak.
“I saw Bogo picking up some speed," Coleman said. "He had that look in his eye like he was about to do something. I tried to get up the ice and give him an option. He made a heck of a play. It’s all on him.”
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy set a franchise record with his 22nd post-season win. He stopped 22 of 25 shots.