Marchand Pots Two, But Bruins Fall to Tampa in OT

BostonBruins.com -The Bruins twice had the lead and later forced overtime in the closing minutes of the third period, but it still wasn't enough to open up a 2-0 series lead over the Lightning on Tuesday night. Ondrej Palat scored for Tampa at 4:40 of the extra session to clinch a 4-3 victory and tie the first-round series at a game apiece.
"We had a puck alone behind the net, we just rimmed it to nobody, so that needs to be better, and then we recovered on the wall and tried to make a play through the middle and that got picked off, we didn't get it out," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of the overtime breakdown.
"I just think we need to manage the puck better in those situations. We didn't. It has cost us at times in the playoffs, but it started with the decision to rim the puck when there wasn't a lot of pressure. It'd be a nice time to put out a fire and make a clean play."

The Bruins held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on goals from Nick Ritchie and Brad Marchand, but both times the Lightning responded to even the game and eventually grabbed a 3-2 advantage on Blake Coleman's tally midway through the third. Boston, however, ushered a response of its own when Marchand potted his second of the night with 3:58 remaining.
"It's a tough series out there," said Sean Kuraly, who had the primary assist on Marchand's tying goal. "I think they want to play heavy and fast and they've got skill and I think we've got all the same things. It turns out to be two good teams going at it head to head.
"No one wants to go home and you're kind of seeing the effects of that. Each team trying to play their game and usually whoever can play the most of their game ends up winning."

Quick Turnaround

With a rare postseason back-to-back on tap, the Bruins' goaltending situation is somewhat in question. Cassidy did not confirm who would start between the pipes for Game 3, but Jaroslav Halak said after the game that he feels fine and will "just need to get a good night's sleep."
"No one said it was going to be an easy series," said Halak. "We are tied now and basically starting from zero now. We have to forget about this one and move on and we have another game [on Wednesday]."
Marchand explained that the biggest challenge in Game 3 will be maintaining pace.
"They're fast games out there. Slow ice makes it a little tougher," said Marchand. "That's a team that competes hard and works very hard. To play that two nights in a row, it's going to be a battle. We all play back-to-backs all the time. No excuses come playoffs time.
"You have to show up and you have to play. You have to find a way to win, just have to rely on the whole group [on Wednesday]. Everyone is going to have to have their best games if we want to compete with that team."

On the Board

Nick Ritchie and the Bruins' third line has been a work in progress so far this postseason, but the trio combined for a gritty goal to open the scoring in Game 2. Ritchie broke in with Anders Bjork on a 2-on-1 and eventually hammered home a loose puck from the crease to give Boston a 1-0 lead just 3:14 into the first.
"It was obviously nice, on a personal level, to contribute and score a goal," said Ritchie. "As far as the line, I thought we were better. We had some good shifts and had some O-zone time. As a whole we're going to look forward to get better [in Game 3] because we have to get better as a whole."

Moving On Up

Marchand's two-goal night had him climbing up the ladder of some of Boston's all-time postseason rankings. He moved past Bobby Orr into sole possession of seventh place on the team's all-time points list (94), while tying Ray Bourque for eighth place in goals (36).
It also marked his 29th career multi-point game in the playoffs, tying Phil Esposito for second most in Bruins history.
Patrice Bergeron played in his 146th career playoff game, passing Wayne Cashman for third in team history.
David Pastrnak had two assists giving him 51 career playoff points in 49 career postseason games. He is the seventh active player to accomplish that feat in less than 50 games.

Set in Stone

With a Game 5 now necessary on Sunday night, the NHL announced that puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET on NBC.