Behind Tuukka Rask‘s 28 saves, the Boston Bruins finally put an end to their playoff race when they secured the second wild card spot Tuesday with a 4-0 shut out of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tuukka Rask picked up shutout over Bolts Tuesday – file photo by Brent Clark
“Obviously a new feeling for me,” Bruins forward David Pastrnak said. “I’m really enjoying it, it’s a lot of fun and it’s exciting. Now we’ve got ourselves in a spot we can actually fight for home ice and a good spot in the playoffs. We can play a little more relaxed knowing that we made it and it’s a lot of fun.”
Pastrnak struck for two goals and Drew Stafford and Zdeno Chara added markers in the win.
The Bruins are in the playoffs for the first time in three years.
With the Ottawa Senators in a swoon, the Lightning are still not eliminated from the playoff race.
“We’re not out of it; obviously a tough ladder to climb, obviously need some results to go our way but we’re obviously disappointed with the game tonight. But we got to turn around quickly,” Tampa’s Victor Hedman said.
WATCH: All Lightning vs. Bruins highlights
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves in taking the loss.
“What hurt was we had a [4:21] power play to start the second period and we did nothing with it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “And we weren’t even really a threat, so instead of being an energy boost for us … now you don’t’ have to score on it but you’ve got to turn the tide of the game and we didn’t.”
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