Vezina Trophy finalist Tim Thomas turned aside 31 shots and David Krejci scored 69 seconds into the first period as the Boston Bruins skated to a 2-0 road triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Defenseman Andrew Ference provided insurance midway into the third period for third-seeded Boston, which has bounced back from a Game 1 loss to seize a 2-1 advantage in the series. Game 4 is Saturday afternoon at the St. Pete Times Forum.

After suffering a mild concussion in Game 4 of the conference semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers, Patrice Bergeron returned to the ice on Thursday. Bergeron won 18 of 28 faceoffs and registered two shots in 19:13 of ice time.

While Bergeron was solid, Thomas was spectacular. The 37-year-old netminder stopped 10 shots in the first period, six in the second and 15 in the third to preserve his second career playoff shutout.

The Bruins opened the scoring early in the contest. Milan Lucic wired a centering feed which found Krejci, who patiently switched from his forehand to backhand before depositing the puck past Dwayne Roloson for his second goal in as many games and team-high seventh of the playoffs.

Ference doubled the advantage 8:12 into the third period after blasting a shot from the point which sailed through traffic and trickled between the pads of Roloson. The puck had just enough steam to cross the goal line and give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.

Roloson finished with 23 saves for fifth-seeded Tampa Bay.