Law and order was restored in the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night. The Bruins were restored to a series lead.
Riding Tim Thomas’ first shutout of the postseason, the Bruins reclaimed home-ice advantage with a 2-0 victory over the Lightning in Tampa, giving them a 2-to-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 4 is Saturday afternoon.
After allowing 10 goals in the first two games of the series, Thomas was at his Vezina Trophy best, making 31 saves in his second career postseason shutout, including some biggies in the third period.
Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson, pulled after allowing six goals in the first two periods in Game 2, allowed a devastating goal with 11:48 left in the third period, allowing Andrew Ference’s slapper to trickle between his pads and slowly over the goal line for a 2-0 Bruins lead.
David Krejci had given the Bruins a 1-0 lead 1:09 into the game, but there was no repeat of the scoring mayhem in Game 2, as the two top defensive teams in the postseason reverted to form.
Patrice Bergeron returned to game action after participating in pre-game warm-ups, the final readiness test after missing the first two games because of a mild concussion.
