Bruins vs Lightning game 6 summary

Boston Bruins' Nathan Horton (18) and David Krejci, center, of the Czech Republic, celebrate after teammate Milan Lucic, right, scored a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Eastern Conference final series in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday, May 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

There will be a Game 7 on Friday in Boston as the Lightning beat the Bruins 5-4 tonight. With all of the crying that Lightning coach Guy Boucher did about penalties before the game, well his team got their chances and they lit up the net on the Bruins, going 3 for 4 on the power-play. The Bruins had their chances on the power-play as well but they went 1 for 5 which really hurt them in the end. The Bruins top line of Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton was on fire tonight scoring all four of Boston's goals but the Bruins defense and Tim Thomas just couldn't stop the Lightning.

In the first period, it only took 36 seconds for the Lightning to grab the lead 1-0. The Bruins then took control of the play and scored twice in the period to take a 2-1 lead. Milan Lucic scored his 3rd goal of the playoffs and David Krejci scored his 8th goal of the playoffs.

In the second period, it was all Tampa Bay as they scored twice to take the lead 3-2.

In the third period, the Bruins controlled most of the play but Stamkos would score a power-play goal on Andrew Ference's cross checking penalty that carried over to the third period to make it 4-2. I'm not sure how Ference got called for a weak cross checking penalty as Stamkos was seen punching the back of Dennis Seidenberg's head a few times in the same scrum and Stamkos got nothing for that and Ference got a penalty. I guess crying about penalty calls may get you some help.

Later, David Krejci would score his second goal of the game, his 9th goal of the playoffs, to make it 4-3. The Lightning came right back as Martin St. Louis scored on a 2-on-1 with Steve Downie to make it 5-3. Johnny Boychuk got caught going too deep and couldn't get back. Krejci later would score his third goal of the game, his 10th goal of the playoffs, recording a hat trick to make it 5-4. The game would end with a scrum as a Lightning player decided to hit Nathan Horton just before at the buzzer so Milan Lucic joined in and a few players paired off but not much happened.

Tim Thomas made 21 saves on 26 shots and looked human in net. Thomas is now 11-6 with a 2.42 GAA and a .926 save percentage.

The Lightning led the game in shots 26-20, in faceoff wins 34-31 and in hits 23-18.

Notes from the game
Dwayne Roloson played in net for the Lightning and did not look at his best.

Patrice Bergeron had a bad game as he was 9-10 in the faceoff circle and was -1 with 0 shots.

The Lucic-Krejci-Horton line had their best game of the series combining for 7 points and all of the Bruins goals. Lucic had 1 goal and 1 assist, was +2 with 4 shots. Krejci had 3 goals, was +2, had 4 shots and went 10-8 in the faceoff circle. Horton had 2 assists, was +2 with 2 shots and again led the Bruins with 4 hits.

Johnny Boychuk was on the ice for all 5 goals against in only 12:27 of ice time. Maybe he isn't over that hit he took from Downie in Game 5?

The good news is that Game 7 is back in Boston where the Bruins looked good in Game 5.

Oh and nice job to whoever was the Lightning marketing genius that thought of giving out a hard noisemaker paddle or whatever those were to fans which were seen being thrown out onto the ice at the players at the end of the game. You could see Bruins players and Lightning players getting hit with them.

Onto the next one
Game 7 is on Friday in Boston at 8pm ET. It all comes down to one game now for a trip to the finals.

The Bruins still need 5 more wins to bring the Cup to Boston.