Strong Finish Knocks Off Lightning 7-3
BOSTON, MA – The Boston Bruins capped off a two-game home stand with a solid 7-3 win over Atlantic Division rival Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday at TD Garden. Trent Frederic’s second two-goal game in less than a week was the early boost the Bruins needed before pulling away for good in the third period. Linus Ullmark turned back 23 of 26 shots for his 13th win of the season.
The Lightning struck first twenty-one seconds into the game on a Brayden Point swipe alone in front of Ullmark. Two Bruins’ turnovers below the goal line led to Nikita Kucherov dishing to Point for his 18th goal and the 1-0 lead.
Frederic tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal at 4:43. Kevin Shattenkirk feathered a pass from the blue line to Frederic at the side of the Tampa Bay net. Frederic spun while going from his backhand to forehand before flipping the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy (20 saves) for his first career power-play point.
“That was my first power-play shot,” joked Frederic when asked if he knew it was his first power-play point.
“They (the power play unit) were moving really well,” said Frederic of the early game-tying goal. “Shatty (Shattenkirk) made a great play. I was fortunate to put it over him (Vasilevskiy).”
Charlie McAvoy put the Bruins ahead just over 10 minutes later with a shot from the blue line redirected past Vasilevskiy. Danton Heinen fed McAvoy from the corner before McAvoy wrested a shot that tipped off Point’s stick and sailed over Vasilevskiy’s right shoulder to make it 2-1. Matthew Poitras had the secondary assist on McAvoy’s goal.
Frederic added to the Bruins lead just under two minutes into the second period when he banged in a rebound at the side of Tampa’s net. Matt Grzelcyk carried the puck out of the Bruins’ defensive zone and chipped a pass up to Poitras at the Lightning blue line before returning the puck to Grzelcyk in the high slot. Defenseman Darren Raddysh blocked Grzelcyk’s shot, but the loose puck went to a streaking Frederic for his second of the game.
Poitras was again credited with the secondary assist while taking a brutal hit from Tanner Jeannot on the play. Poitras briefly left the game for medical attention in his first game back since returning from the World Junior Championship in Sweden.
“I’m fine. It was just a little stinger,” said Poitras post-game of the hit he took from Jeannot. “I don’t know if it was his glove or stick got me in the face. It is was it is.”
During four-on-four play, Tampa Bay pulled one back at 7:53 when Kucherov capitalized for his 28th goal of the season. Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman carried down low but broke his stick; Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk tried to play the puck, but it bounced off of Hedman’s stick and careened towards Kucherov in front of Boston’s net to make it 3-2.
While still playing four-on-four, David Pastrnak re-established the Bruins two-goal lead at 8:23 when he raced in on Vasilevskiy with Lightning defenseman Raddysh draped all over him before roofing the puck high glove-side for his 24th of the season. Pavel Zacha assisted on the goal.
Tampa Bay kept it interesting at 15:53 when Kucherov and Point combined again. This time, Kucherov’s stick work set up Point for the snapshot in the slot for his second game and 19th of the year. Kucherov carried a Hagel pass through space by putting the puck through his legs and going around Bruins’ defenseman Hampus Lindholm before firing a pass back to the opposite slot, where Point toe-dragged a snap shot past a sprawling Ullmark.
The third period was all Boston as Morgan Geekie scored 1:35 into play to make it 5-3 Bruins. Lindholm carried the puck up ice and dished cross-ice to Pastrnak as he crossed into Tampa territory. Pastrnak deftly floated a pass to a charging Geekie, who chipped a shot over Vasilevsky’s shoulder. The goal was Geekie’s 12th point in 12 straight games.
“Pasta (Pastrnak) made a great play to draw that defender in,” Geekie said of his goal. “I just tried to get a shot on as facst as I could.”
“I really like our third period,” said Bruins Head Coach Jim Montgomery. “I thought we were smart. We didn’t give up an odd-man rush. We had numbers everywhere and we kept hanging onto pucks in the offensive zone, making them (Tampa Bay) defend so they didn’t have much energy to go the other way.”
The Bruins faced down two Tampa Bay power plays late in the third.
“They’re dangerous,” said Montgomery of the Lightning power-play. “I thought our penalty kill was excellent. We sacrificed really well.”
On the first, with Vasilevskiy on the bench for an extra attacker, DeBrusk netted a short-handed goal at 16:37 to seal the deal. Hedman’s stick snapped as he was shooting from the blue line. DeBrusk was there to gather the puck and beat a stickless Hedman in a foot race before sliding the puck into the empty Tampa net to make it 6-3.
Charlie Coyle added another goal as the Lightning’s power-play expired at 17:14. Coyle picked Steve Stamkos’s pocket just over the Bruins’ blue line before racing in alone on Vasilevskiy at the other end to beat him glove-side high to make it 7-3.
“We did a good job of keeping things simple,” Poitras said of the third-period play. “Keep them (Tampa Bay) to the outside. They have lots of good guys over there so we did a good job of trying to contain them.”
The Bruins head for a four-game road trip starting Monday in Denver, Colorado, to take on the Colorado Avalanche at 9:00 pm EST.
PuckingOff Three Stars
First: Trent Frederic
Second: Nikita Kucherov
Third: Charlie McAvoy
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