NHL Playoffs 2011: Lightning Fend off Bruins, Send ECF to Game 7

You have comeback champions and you have comeback victims.

The Boston Bruins will be remembered as a comeback victim.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will be remembered as a comeback champion.

One more win on Friday night, and the Lightning will have another comeback under their belt.

Teddy Purcell and Martin St. Louis scored two goals apiece and the Lightning staved off the Bruins 5-4 to avoid elimination and send the series to a seventh game. The winner plays Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Just 35 seconds into the game, Purcell got the puck on a faceoff and fired a shot top-shelf. It went in the net and the Lightning led, but they didn't have much celebration time. Boston came back and took a 2-1 lead after one period.

The efforts and actions of St. Louis and Purcell were huge for Tampa. St. Louis fired a backhand goal past Tim Thomas midway through the period, and just a little bit later, Teddy Purcell fired a wrist shot that went in the corner of the goal, which made Tim Thomas mad.

Although Dwayne Roloson didn't have his best night, he was pretty big for the Lightning, as he made just enough saves to send the series into seven games, saving 16 of 20 shots. David Krejci knew how to score on Roloson, however, and he got a hat trick.

Early in the third, Steven Stamkos got a pass and fired a shot in the left corner of the net, giving the Lightning a 4-2 lead. Boston scored two more goals, but St. Louis fired one into the net on a breakaway to seal the deal.

The Lightning did play a pretty good game, taking six more shots than Boston did and scoring one more time than the Bruins. However, even though he ended up victorious, Roloson needs to step up and make more saves, like he did in Game 7 against Pittsburgh.

It's up to Purcell, St. Louis and the Lightning to finish off Boston. On the other side, Milan Lucic and David Krejci will be critical for Boston.

Game 7 is Friday night in Boston.