Streaking Lightning sweep; Bruins put Flyers on ropes

5/5/2011

TAMPA -- Sean Bergenheim scored two goals and Dwayne Roloson stopped 33 shots as the surging Tampa Bay Lightning completed a series sweep of the top-seeded Washington Capitals with a 5-3 victory in Game 4 Wednesday night.

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.

Bruins 5, Flyers 1

Zdeno Chara and David Krejci scored in the opening 63 seconds, and 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 disappear 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 Friday night.

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.