Lightning eliminate Bruins in 2OT of Game 5, advance to Eastern Final

Victor Hedman scored at 14:10 of the second overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated the Boston Bruins with a 3-2 win in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Second Round series at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday.

Hedman skated into the left face-off circle and scored short side on Jaroslav Halak, who was screened by Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon, to send the Lightning to the Eastern Conference Final for the fourth time in the past six seasons.
"Obviously, a great feeling. We battled really hard today," Hedman said. "We're very happy, as a group, to move to the conference final."
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Lightning highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 45 saves, and Ondrej Palat scored in his fourth straight game for the Lightning, the No. 2 seed in the East, who will play the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Islanders.
"If you want to advance, you have to win these games. That's all there is to it. It was gutsy," coach Jon Cooper said after Tampa Bay improved to 4-0 in overtime during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "We were doing a lot of the right things, but we needed every bit of energy to get through that first overtime. Tongues were dragging.
"Regardless of the score, I'm proud of this team. They've done everything we've asked of them this year."

David Krejci scored the tying goal with 2:33 remaining in the third period, and Halak made 32 saves for Boston, the No. 4 seed, which lost four straight after winning Game 1 3-2.
"This team is resilient," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We're disappointed. We thought we were the better team tonight. We wanted to play on. Put ourselves in a hole, obviously, but felt we played well enough to win tonight, get it to Game 6, and then see what happens from there."
The Bruins, who were 5-8-0 in the postseason, won the Presidents' Trophy with a .714 points percentage (44-14-12) in the regular season after advancing to the Stanley Cup Final last season, which they lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games.
"It's a very disappointing finish. We had a great year," Boston forward Brad Marchand said. "We expected better out of this year. We thought we had a chance. I mean, Tampa's a great team, don't get me wrong. I don't want to take anything away from them. They're a great team.
"The way things were rolling throughout the season, we thought we were going to go all the way. … We walk away without anything to show for it. So it's tough."

Palat gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with a redirection of Kevin Shattenkirk's shot from the right point at 4:21 of the second period. He has five goals during his four-game goal streak, which ties him with Steven Stamkos (2015, 2018), Vincent Lecavalier (2007) and Martin St. Louis (2003) for the longest in Tampa Bay playoff history.
David Pastrnak tied it 1-1 with a one-timer from the left circle on a power play at 12:38 of the second.
Anthony Cirelli deflected a shot from Hedman to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 12:03 of the third period, but Krejci tied it 2-2 by scoring into an open net after Zdeno Chara's shot redirected off the stick of Palat to him in the slot.
It was the first goal Boston had scored at 5-on-5 since Marchand caused overtime at 16:02 of the third period in Game 2, a 4-3 loss.
"It's just kind of a little sad right now," Krejci said. "At the same time, I don't regret coming into this bubble and fighting for the Stanley Cup. If I had to do it again, I would."
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov left at 12:48 of the first period after he was hit in the face by a stick from Chara, who was assessed a double minor. He returned for the start of the second period, but left again with 6:55 remaining.
"It was a lot of adversity in different fashions tonight," said Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who had six hits and three blocks in 31:50 of ice time after being unfit to play the previous three games. "Probably wasn't as pretty as we would have liked. That's how it goes sometimes. Really proud of everybody picking each other up."
NOTES: Cooper said the Lightning are hopeful regarding Kucherov and that they would provide an update Tuesday. … Boston was outshot 7-1 in the second overtime after having a 46-28 advantage through regulation and the first overtime.
NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report