Playing on consecutive nights for the first time this
postseason, the Lightning extended their winning streak to seven games and
advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since their 2004
Stanley Cup championship season.
For Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals it was yet another
bitter postseason disappointment.
Rookie Michal Neuvirth stopped 32 shots for Washington,
but Bergenheim scored twice in eight minutes during the second period to build
a 3-1 lead that induced chants of "sweep, sweep, sweep" from a
sellout crowd of 20,835.
Bergenheim has a team-leading seven goals through two
rounds. Martin St. Louis added his sixth of the playoffs with 3:08 remaining.
Ryan Malone and Marc-Andre Bergeron also scored for the Lightning, who haven't
lost since dropping into a 3-1 hole against Pittsburgh in the first round.
Marco Sturm, John Erskine and John Carlson scored for the
Capitals.
At Boston, Zdeno Chara and David
Krejci scored in the opening 63 seconds as Boston added two more goals in a 95-second
span in the second period to beat Philadelphia and take a 3-0 lead in the
Eastern Conference semifinals.
One year after watching their 3-0 series lead disapear in
an unprecedented collapse, the Bruins again moved one game from sweeping
Philadelphia in the conference semis. This year they have a chance to do it at
home, with Game 4 on Friday night at the TD Garden.
Tim Thomas made 37 saves for Boston, which hasn't reached
the conference finals since 1992.
Brian Boucher stopped 16 shots for the Flyers before he
was replaced with 4:46 left in the second period after Daniel Paille and Nathan
Horton scored to make it 4-0.
Sergei Bobrovsky made seven saves the rest of the way.
Andrej Meszaros spoiled Thomas' shutout bid with 3:34
left in the middle period.
At Detroit, Devin Setoguchi
scored 9:21 into overtime to finish a hat trick as San Jose took a commanding
3-0 lead over Detroit in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Sharks will have a chance to sweep the series in Game
4 on Friday night in Detroit.
San Jose's Dan Boyle scored the tying goal with 4:08 left
in regulation, setting up the Sharks' second overtime win of the series.
Pavel Datsyuk scored a go-ahead goal late in the second
period, but Detroit couldn't hold on.
Antti Niemi stopped 38 shots for the Sharks. Detroit's
Jimmy Howard made 34 saves.
Setoguchi scored first, a power-play goal midway through
the first period, and made it 2-all late in the second with another
man-advantage goal.
Nicklas Lidstrom scored off of Henrik Zetterberg's
no-look, between-the-legs pass with 22 seconds left in the first period to get
the Red Wings even.
Patrick Eaves put Detroit ahead 2-1, but Setoguchi tied
it 50 later in the second period.
