Lightning Crank Up Power Play, Rout Bruins 7-1 In Game 3

TORONTO: Ondrej Palat, Mikhail Sergachez and Alex Killorn scored power-play goals Wednesday night to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 7-1 rout of the Boston Bruins in Game 3 of their second-round NHL playoff series.

Killorn added a second goal and Yanni Gourde, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, which won for the second straight night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup between Atlantic Division rivals.

Kucherov assisted on all three power-play goals as the Lightning ended an 0-for-16 drought in man-advantage situations that began in Game 1 of Tampa Bays first-round victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Brad Marchand had his fourth goal of the series for Boston, scoring on the power play at 4:56 of the second period.

But by then, the Bruins trailed 3-0 after yielding goals to Palat and Gourde within a 15-second span of the opening period and Sergachezs blistering shot that sailed past goalie Jaroslav Halak at 2:14 of the second.

Things really got out of hand when Halak, trailing 4-1, was replaced by 23-year-old Dan Vladar, making his NHL playoff debut.

Point scored on a breakaway and Killorn added his second goal the night before Kucherov built the lead to 7-1 at 3:58 of the third period.

Andrei Vasilevskiy had 23 saves for the Lightning. Halak stopped 12 of 16 shots before departing midway through the second period.

Notes: Vlader, who dressed as Halaks backup the previous five games, allowed three goals on 15 shots. … Tampa Bay finished 3 for 6 on the power-play and is 5 for 26 for the playoffs. … Torey Krug and David Pastrnak assisted on Marchands goal. … With injured Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh still sidelined, Tampa Bay dressed seven defensemen and 11 forwards for the second straight game.

___

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor