By Danny Picard
CSNNE.com
BOSTON -- No Patrice Bergeron, no problem. Not as long as Tyler Seguin keeps it up.
Seguin had a four-point night with two goals and two assists as the Bruins defeated Tampa Bay, 6-5, Tuesday night, evening their Eastern Conference series at 1-1.
Seguin got the call for the second straight game, as Bergeron (concussion) was once again ruled out. And for the second straight game, the kid didnt disappoint.
He opened the second period with a goal that tied the game at 2-2 just 48 seconds in. He took a pass at his own blue line, burst up the middle of the ice, split two Lightning defensemen and finished a breakaway by flipping a backhander top shelf.
After David Krejci gave the Bruins their first lead of the game, 3-2, at 2:24, Seguin added another at 6:30, sniping the top-right corner with a snap shot from the right slot after Nathan Horton fed him with a cross-slot pass on a 2-on-1 breakaway.
Vincent Lecavalier cut the Bruins lead to 4-3, just over a minute later, but Michael Ryder scored twice in the final four minutes of the second periodboth assisted by Seguin, including one on the power playto give the Bs a commanding 6-3 lead heading into the third period.
Boston Bruins
In that third period, Steven Stamkos sniped the top-left corner from the left circle at 3:47 to make it 6-4. And with 6:45 left in the game, Dominic Moore made it a one-goal game at 6-5 by putting home a loose puck on a scrum out front.
But even after a late flurry by the Lightning in the final minutes, Tim Thomas was there to save the day with big save after big save, preserving the Bruins victory.
The Lightning initially took a 2-1 lead after one period, thanks to a late Martin St. Louis goal with 6.5 seconds left in the first period. Stamkos took the puck over the Bruins blue line and cut to the outside of Dennis Seidenberg down the right wing, where he let go a spin-around backhander on net that was re-directed by St. Louis and then went into the net off Bs defenseman Johnny Boychuk.
Nathan Horton had previously tied the game at 1-1 when he tipped home a Seidenberg shot from the right point with one second left on a 5-on-4 power play, and 6:02 left in the opening period.
Adam Hall made it 1-0 Tampa Bay early, when he put home a Lecavalier shot from the right circle that went wide behind the net, and bounced back out to him off the boards to the left post.Danny Picard is on twitter at http:twitter.comDannyPicard.
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