Bruins frustrated after Game 4 loss to Lightning

BOSTON --It all snapped into place in the second period. The Boston Bruins found what made them great this season, possessing the puck, forcing turnovers, scoring on the power play. They found what had gotten them this far, to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round.
Down 2-0 in the first period, they took a 3-2 lead in the third. They were feeling like maybe, just maybe, it was all falling into place.
That feeling didn't last.

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For 6:20, from the moment Patrice Bergeron scored a shorthanded goal at 6:36 of the third period for a 3-2 lead, to 12:56, when Steven Stamkos scored the tying goal, the Bruins and their fans at TD Garden thought they were going to tie the series 2-2. They sensed it. They wanted it.
They didn't get it.
Instead, it went to overtime, where at 3:18, defenseman Dan Girardi scored on a redirection to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 win, a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, and a chance to close it out at home in Game 5 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).
There was anger in the Bruins dressing room.
Because, as goaltender Tuukka Rask said, "It's probably our best game. And it didn't go our way."

They had once again suffered through a rough start, falling behind 2-0 in the first period on a goal by Brayden Point at 4:36 and a Nikita Kucherov power-play goal at 9:53, and still clawed themselves back into the game. They had recovered and, for that, they were proud.
They were also frustrated.
The Bruins believed that on Stamkos' goal, Kucherov pulled down defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who lost the puck to Lightning forward J.T. Miller, who sent a pass to Stamkos.
"I came around the net and [defenseman Zdeno Chara] was yelling 'wheel', so I'm coming around, trying to get my feet moving, making a play and I wasn't able to," McAvoy said. "You guys can have it up to interpretation. I know how I feel, but I'm not going to comment on it."
Yet there were positives. The Bruins scored twice on the power play, the first when David Pastrnak batted the puck into the net at 15:28 of the first period, and the second at 2:04 of the second period, a sequence that went from Bergeron to defenseman Torey Krug and back to Bergeron for a one-timer from the right circle that tied it 2-2.

Then came what they thought might be the dagger.
It was a beauty of a shorthanded goal by Bergeron, with Brad Marchand skating down the right side, hoping Bergeron would get between and past Victor Hedman and Kucherov. He did, coming down the slot at the perfect moment to knock the pass from Marchand past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 3-2.
There was the lead. There was the roar from the crowd. There was their moment, their win, the one that would even the series.
There it was, and then there it wasn't.
"We battled back," McAvoy said. "We were down 2-0, not where we wanted to be, but that's where we were. A lot of heart in this room, we battle all the way back and we feel like we are in a very good position, and to see it slip away the way it did, it [stinks]."

But none of that matters now, not the good or the bad. The Bruins are one loss away from the end of their season. They have only one task ahead of them, only one focus now: Win on Sunday.
Play, as Bergeron noted, "desperate hockey."
That became even more complicated when Krug went hard into the boards ankle-first with Lightning forward Alex Killorn behind him at 8:30 of the third. Krug was seen leaving TD Garden using crutches and with his foot in a walking boot. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy termed it a lower-body injury and said Krug will be evaluated further.
"Our backs are against the wall, so we just got to go play," McAvoy said. "We can't think about anything else at this point. It's been really unfortunate, but we can't put it in anyone else's hands. We just got to play hockey, so we'll go into Tampa with the expectation to win a hockey game."
The Bruins were on the other end of this scenario in the first round. They were up 3-1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs before the Maple Leafs won Games 5 and 6.
Maybe there's hope that can be gleaned from that.
"I've spoken about that, about the resilience in the room, so it's time to show it," Bergeron said. "Toronto showed us that it's always hard to get the fourth game, so let's go out there and play for Game 5. It's not over until it's over, right?"