Three days ago, Tyler Seguin hadn't played a single minute in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After playing 100 of them in games one and two, he has three goals and three assists, including a beautiful move less than a minute into the second period, splitting two Tampa defenders through the neutral zone and leaving Randy Jones in his wake as he got Dwayne Roloson down and beat him high to open the period's scoring, tying the game at 2.
But he wasn't close to done. After Dennis Seidenberg found David Krejci from across the ice some two minutes later for a Krejci tap-in, Seguin caught a feed from Nathan Horton on a 2-on-1 that he buried high to extend the Bruins' lead to 4-2.
After a questionable cross-checking call on Mark Recchi put the Lightning back on the power play, Vincent Lecavalier scored to get the Bolts within one.
It was at that point that Seguin decided to start sharing the spotlight, getting the primary assist on a Michael Ryder goal that the Newfoundland native took off Roloson's pad and put into the water bottles on top of the net. The power play goal, the Bruins second of the game, marked the first time Boston has scored multiple power play goals since a March 27th game against Philadelphia.
With just 20 seconds remaining in the period, Seguin was again operating with the puck, this time on the left half-wall. Ryder skated into space near the bottom of the right face-off circle and Seguin hit him on the tape. Ryder snapped off a wrister that beat Roloson high to give the Bruins a 6-3 lead heading into intermission.
This was exactly the period the Bruins hadn't played all year - a strong 20 minutes followed by a stronger 20 minutes, and the Garden is loving every minute of it. Seguin's cemented his spot on the roster, one would imagine, and both he and Ryder are a goal away from a hat trick.
The Bruins defense has been doing everything the offense hasn't - that is, excelling. Tim Thomas hasn't been great, but he's been good enough, stopping a couple breakaways in the second to keep the Bruins in control of this one. Expect the Black and Gold to attack for the first 5-8 minutes of this period before going into a shell if they're still up big.