Recap: Elimination looms as Bruins drop Game 4, 3-1

The Lightning took the lead at 8:59 in the first period. Brayden Point beat Torey Krug along the goal line and found Ondrej Palat in the low slot for a one-timer over Jaroslav Halak’s stick to make the score, 1-0.

Palat extended the Lightning’s lead at 12:29 in the second period, collecting his second goal of the game. After skating to the top of the left-wing circle, Anthony Cirelli hit Palat’s stick, where he blasted a one-timer over Halak’s glove to make it 2-0.

A dangerous play by Nick Ritchie on a boarding call resulted in a five-minute major for the B’s to kill off in the second period.

The Bruins held the Lightning off for most the major penalty kill, but with 28 seconds left, a deflection added to their deficit.

Victor Hedman was the one who added to the cushion on the power play, as a bad bounce off Par Lindholm deflected Hedman’s shot over the Halak’s right shoulder to make the score 3-0.

Jake DeBrusk netted a power-play goal for the Bruins at 7:04 in the third period. Charlie Coyle hit DeBrusk with a pass that he one-timed five-hole on Andrei Vasilevskiy, aided by a screen from Ondrej Kase.

However, that’d be all the Bruins could muster - they dropped Game 4 by a 3-1 score, and now trail the series by that same margin.

After getting embarrassed by the Lightning in Game 3, you hoped the Bruins would come out flying. Instead, they fell behind 3-0 again, and never caught up.

Now the Bruins are faced with needing three wins in a row to prolong their season, and let’s be honest: they don’t look anywhere near up to the task.

Game 5 is on Monday night.