Tampa Bay Lightning Lose to Boston Bruins in Eastern Conference Finals

By Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Tickets Staff Writer: Allison

After the past three seasons, there was little hope the Tampa Bay Lightning could pull off a winning season let alone go all seven games in the 2011 Eastern Conference series with the Boston Bruins.

Vincent Lecavalier was almost traded, Martin St. Louis almost asked for a trade and the Lightning were almost sold to another hockey city. And yet... the Lightning made a strong playoff run! This season, the Tampa Bay hockey team came in with the same lineup led by a different owner, general manager and coaching staff. Despite all the changes, sports experts mostly didn't rank the lightning any higher than 6th in the Eastern Conference.

Then, the Tampa Bay Lightning took off on the ice and didn't look back, playing until the last second of games and the last games of the series.

The Lightning forced a Game 7 with a 5-4 victory in Tampa Bay over the Boston Bruins.