In another do or die situation, the Bruins and Lightning both came out with desperation. In the 18th game of the playoffs – for both teams – the back and forth encounter had it all: physicality, scoring chances and courage. From the opening moments where Dennis Seidenberg collided with Martin St. Louis to Tim Thomas and Dwayne Roloson making clutch stops and Steven Stamkos returning after taking one of Johnny Boychuk’s ‘rockets’ to the nose, nothing was lacking in this encounter.
Finally, late in the third period, a familiar hero emerged. Nathan Horton, who delivered overtime winners in Games 5 (in double OT) and 7 in the first round series versus the hated Canadiens, took a perfect pass from David Krejci and tipped the puck past Roloson.