One Win Away From the Stanley Cup Finals, B's Take Game 5, 3-1

One minute and nine seconds into the tilt, the Tampa Bay Lightning lit the lamp. Simon Gagne was fed on a one-timer by Steve Stamkos that he slipped by Boston goalie Tim Thomas and through the legs of defender Johnny Boychuk.

The Bruins tied it up 7 shots later--which took them almost 25 minutes of hockey--with an absolute laser off the stick of Nathan Horton. The B's only managed 19 shots on the entire night, but scored 3 times to take Game 5, 3-1.

Brad Marchand took a pass from Patrice Bergeron that skimmed just in front of Mike Smith, and tossed it top shelf to take the lead, 2-1. With under a minute to go, Rich Peverley broke out down the ice to lock the game up with an empty-net goal.

Tim Thomas, brilliant again with 33 saves on the night, made one of the best saves of the entire season. The puck was launched off of Steve Downie's stick with about 11 minutes to go in the third period, but just in the nick of time, Thomas reached out with his stick as the puck dinged off of the left pipe and slapped it out of the fray.

The Bruins took Game 5 in front of 17,500 at the TD Garden, and are one win away from their first Stanley Cup finals berth since 1990. The Vancouver Canucks are also a win away from the Finals, and will host the San Jose Sharks tonight for Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals will be from the St. Pete Times Forum Wednesday night.

Go B's.