The Tampa Bay Lightning (43-20-5) defeated the Boston Bruins (43-14-12) 5-3 on Saturday night in Boston.
The Lightning set the pace early in this game by taking advantage of Boston while shorthanded. They got two shorthanded goals - first a beauty off of a steal from Anthony Cirelli, then from Mikhail Sergachev - to take a 2-0 lead.
The Bolts added on to make it 3-0 at the 6:50 mark of the second period when Cedric Paquette lit the lamp. As you would expect from the team with the most points in the NHL, the Bruins were not going to go down without a fight, and began to push back. First Charlie McAvoy scored at the 14:50 mark of the second period, then it was Sean Kuraly scored at the 18:37 mark of the same period, and the game would head into the second intermission with Tampa Bay hanging onto a 3-2 lead.
Alex Killorn scored what would prove to be the game winner at the 1:08 mark of the third period to give Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead. Though David Pastrnak scored to pull within 4-3 with under seven minutes to go in the game, that would be as close as Boston would get. Nikita Kucherov clinched the win from Tampa Bay when his shot went in with just over a minute to go in the game to secure a 5-3 Lightning win.
Andrei Vasilevskiy got the win in net as he went 35-for-38 in net for Tampa Bay - Tuukka Rask took the loss, converting 20 saves on 24 shots.
The Lightning will be right back in action on Sunday in the second game of a back-to-back as they head to Detroit to battle the Red Wings. Puck drop is scheduled for 5 PM - pregame coverage begins at 4:30 on News Radio WFLA.
Photo Courtesy Getty Images