Tim Thomas returned to his usual form in the early moments of game four, flopping and falling all over the ice as Tampa's commitment to increasing traffic in front of the Bruins' netminder was evident.
It was the Gregory Campbell line that generated the best chance in the early going, however, as Dwayne Roloson mishandled a puck in the crease, leaving it free on the edge of the paint with an open side. Campbell fell in front of the puck, however, and Tampa was able to clear.
The frantic pace that defined the first ten minutes of the period didn't slow down as the period settled in, but when Victor Hedman tried to reverse the puck behind his own net in the face of a heavy Bruins' forecheck, Patrice Bergeron intercepted the puck and deposited it between the legs of a stunned Roloson.
Tampa struggled to regroup after the goal, turning the puck over on the breakout a couple times in their next few shifts, one of which almost led to a Campbell goal after Hedman again handed the puck over.
Another mishap in the neutral zone by Marc-Andre Bergeron found the puck on Chris Kelly's stick with inside four minutes to play in the period. Kelly found Michael Ryder, who beat Mike Lundin low and waffled the puck past Roloson.
After Dennis Seidenberg took a penalty for holding the stick, the Lightning tried to set up in the Bruins' zone, but Patrice Bergeron went high and intercepted a pass along the blue line before breaking into the Tampa zone and wristing it high above Roloson's blocker for the third goal of the period.
The goal chased Roloson and Mike Smith came in to replace him. Roloson bolted past Guy Boucher en route to the Tampa locker room with nary a word.
The period ended with gloves dropping everywhere as Tampa crashed the net a little bit too hard at the final horn. Rich Peverley and Marc-Andre Bergeron got five-minute majors for fighting, while Steve Downie received a minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.
Tampa Bay outshot Boston, 10-9.