Brad Marchand scored to snap a tie late in the second period and Vezina Trophy finalist Tim Thomas turned aside 33 shots as the Boston Bruins skated to a 3-1 home triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Nathan Horton collected his seventh goal of the postseason and Rich Peverley scored into the empty net for third-seeded Boston, which secured a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven series. The teams will reconvene at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa Bay on Wednesday for Game 6.

The victory moved Boston's Claude Julien into sole possession of second place in franchise history with 28 postseason coaching triumphs. Julien moved past Art Ross for the honor and is now three wins shy of Don Cherry.

With the game tied at 1-1, Patrice Bergeron collected the puck along the half boards and wired a centering feed to a cutting Marchand. The 23-year-old Nova Scotia native directed a shot past Mike Smith for his sixth goal of the playoffs with 4:04 remaining in the period.

After stopping all 29 shots in two relief appearances in this series, Smith made his first career postseason start on Monday. He finished with 17 saves.

Fifth-seeded Tampa Bay got the early jump as Simon Gagne opened the scoring 69 seconds into the contest. Steven Stamkos skated up the wing on a 2-on-1 breakaway and fed Gagne, who wristed a shot between the legs of defenseman Johnny Boychuk and past Thomas for his seventh career goal in nine playoff games against the Bruins.

Thomas would not be beaten again. The All-Star netminder made several solid saves - including denying Steve Downie on a point-blank chance with his stick in the third period.

Horton leveled the contest 4:24 into the second session after one-timing a centering feed from Milan Lucic. The goal was Horton's seventh of the postseason.