Bolts strike early and often to take series lead

In a flash, the Lightning took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday, defeating Boston 5-2.

Sean Bergenheim, Brett Clark and Teddy Purcell scored in a span of 85 seconds in the first period to stun the home crowd of 17,565 at TD Garden watching the Bruins' first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals since 1992.

Dwayne Roloson stopped 31 shots to lead Tampa Bay to a franchise record-tying eighth consecutive playoff victory. With his eighth consecutive victory, Roloson tied an NHL record with Jacques Plante for longest postseason winning streak by a goaltender over age 40.

Simon Gagne and Marc-Andre Bergeron also scored for Tampa Bay.

For two teams that sat at home for more than a week waiting for the series to begin, both sides had the high intensity and strong jump to their respective games teams need at this time of the year. While the crispness of play might not have been at its peak, the pace was fast and swift, which is exactly how Tampa Bay jumped to a lead.

The Lightning scored two goals in a franchise playoff-record 19 seconds apart as Sean Bergenheim scored his league-leading eighth of the postseason. Dennis Seidenberg, sans his stick, kicked a loose puck right onto Bergenheim's stick and he scored 11:15 into the game. Bergenheim has four goals during a three-game goal-scoring streak and has scored in six of the past seven games.

Defenseman Brett Clark then did his best Bobby Orr impersonation, taking a puck from inside his blue line and weaving around a pair of Boston players before putting a soft backhand shot on goal that found a hole in Tim Thomas at 11:34.

It didn't take long for the lead to increase to 3-0 after Tomas Kaberle lost a puck behind his net and gave it right to Teddy Purcell, who banged the puck past Thomas at 12:40 to give Tampa Bay three goals in a span of 85 seconds, eclipsing the previous franchise mark of three goals in 3:07 set against Calgary in Game 2 of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals.

Rookie Tyler Seguin, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 draft, made his playoff debut in style, turning Mike Lundin inside-out and beating Roloson to the far post to make it 3-1 with 4:01 left in the opening period.

The second period looked nothing like the opening period, which featured four goals and zero penalty calls. The teams took turns killing penalties, starting 1:29 into the period. In total, there were five penalties, leaving half the period to be played on special teams.

Each power play, however, came up empty and the period ended the same way it began, with the Lightning holding a 3-1 lead. The best scoring chance came from Steve Downie inside the crease, only to see Thomas smother the puck at 14:10.

Tampa Bay put the icing on the victory in the third when Johnny Boychuk took a roughing call for a quick jab to Vinny Lecavalier after Boychuk delivered a hard hit on Simon Gagne. With the man advantage, Marc-Andre Bergeron fired a shot from the left point that looked to hit the knob on Thomas' stick and go into the net with 6:23 left.

Gagne added an empty-netter.

eerlendsson@tampatrib.com

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