NHL

Tuesday’s NHL playoffs: Palat’s OT goal lifts Lightning over Bruins in Game 2

Associated Press

Toronto — The pressure of overtime hardly fazes the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have been as resilient as any team in the NHL playoffs.

Ondrej Palat scored less than five minutes into yet another extra period for the second-seeded Lightning, who beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Tuesday to even their Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.

Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat (18) celebrates after scoring the winning goal on the Boston Bruins with teammates Braydon Coburn (55), Patrick Maroon (14) and Yanni Gourde (37) during overtime.

Tampa Bay improved to 4-0 in overtime games this postseason, including a five-OT win during the team’s first-round victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Lightning overcame one-goal deficits twice, had a first-period score reversed and relinquished its first lead of the series with under four minutes left in regulation.

“Any time we hit adversity in this game, I thought we had an answer,” said Tampa Bay’s Blake Coleman.

Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy had 22 saves and became Tampa Bay’s all-time playoff leader with 22 wins.

“He’s been our best player all playoffs, kept us in games and given us a chance to win,” defenseman Zach Bogosian said of Vasillevskiy, a finalist for the award as the league’s top goaltender again this season.

Now the teams face the challenge of a short turnaround for Game 3 of the best-of-seven matchup, which is Wednesday night in Toronto.

“Sometimes it’s good to get right back at it when you lose a hockey game,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We’ll see.”

Coleman had two goals and Nikita Kucherov also scored for Tampa Bay. Kucherov tied it 2-2 with 41/2 minutes left in the second period, ad Coleman’s second of the game put the Lightning ahead with 9:20 left in the third.

Brad Marchand’s second goal of the night, off a nifty feed from Sean Kuraly, tied it 3-3 with just under 4 minutes to go in regulation.

The Lightning outshot the Bruins 40-25, including 9-1 in overtime.

“I think they had the mindset that they were going to pound the puck at us all night and get to the net,” Cassidy said.

Nick Ritchie also scored for the Bruins, and Jaroslav Halak finished with 36 saves.

David Pastrnak, the league’s leading scorer during the regular season, had the primary assist on Marchand’s power-play goal at 14:33 of the second period. He picked up another assist on the goal that tied it in the third.

The Lightning, who trailed 3-0 before scoring in Game 1, had a goal by Barclay Goodrow disallowed in the opening period when the Bruins successfully challenged that Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point was offside seconds before the apparent score that would have have erased Boston’s early 1-0 lead.

Instead of dwelling on the reversal, the Lightning kept working until Coleman’s diving shot off a feed from Bogosian made it 1-1 at 12:42 of the opening period. It remained tied after Marchand scored for Boston and Nikita Kucherov countered for Tampa Bay within a 55-second span of the second period.

The loss stopped Boston’s four-game winning streak since starting goalie Tuukka Rask opted out of the playoffs.

More NHL playoffs

Vancouver 5, Vegas 2: Bo Horvat scored twice, and Tyler Toffoli and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and two assists as the Canucks evened the series 1-1.

Tanner Pearson also scored for Vancouver, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 38 shots — including 21 in the second period.

Alex Tuch and Max Pacioretty scored for the Golden Knights. Robin Lehner had 22 saves in just his second loss of the postseason.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(6) N.Y. Islanders 1, (1) Philadelphia 0

Monday, Aug. 24: N.Y. Islanders 4, Philadelphia 0

Wednesday, Aug. 26: N.Y. Islanders vs. Philadelphia, 3 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 27: Philadelphia vs. N.Y. Islanders, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 29: Philadelphia vs. N.Y. Islanders, noon

x-Monday, Aug. 31: N.Y. Islanders vs. Philadelphia, TBD

x-Wednesday, Sept. 2: Philadelphia vs. N.Y. Islanders, TBD

x-Thursday, Sept. 3: N.Y. Islanders vs. Philadelphia, TBD

(4) Boston 1, (2) Tampa Bay 1

Sunday, Aug. 23: Boston 3, Tampa Bay 2

Tuesday, Aug. 25 : Tampa Bay 4, Boston 3, OT

Wednesday, Aug. 26: Tampa Bay vs. Boston, 8 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 28: Tampa Bay vs. Boston, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 30: Boston vs. Tampa Bay, TBD

x-Tuesday, Sept. 1: Tampa Bay vs. Boston, TBD

x-Wednesday, Sept. 2: Boston vs. Tampa Bay, TBD

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Las Vegas 1, (5) Vancouver 1

Sunday, Aug. 23: Las Vegas 5, Vancouver 0

Tuesday, Aug. 25: Vancouver 5, Las Vegas 2

Thursday, Aug. 27: Las Vegas vs. Vancouver, 9:45 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 29: Las Vegas vs. Vancouver, 8 p.m.

Monday, Aug. 31: Vancouver vs. Las Vegas, TBD

x-Tuesday, Sept. 1: Las Vegas vs. Vancouver, TBD

x-Thursday, Sept. 3: Vancouver vs. Las Vegas, TBD

(3) Dallas 2, (2) Colorado 0

Saturday, Aug. 22: Dallas 5, Colorado 3

Monday, Aug. 24: Dallas 5, Colorado 2

Wednesday, Aug. 26: Colorado vs. Dallas, 10:30 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 28: Colorado vs. Dallas, 10 p.m.

x-Sunday, Aug. 30: Dallas vs. Colorado, TBD

x-Monday, Aug. 31: Colorado vs. Dallas, TBD

x-Wednesday, Sept. 2: Dallas vs. Colorado, TBD