In Tampa, the Lighting handed the Boston Bruins a rare regulation loss on Thursday night.
Brayden Point and Victor Hedman scored in the third period, around a goal from Boston’s Pavel Zacha to secure the win.
“It was a fast-paced game. It felt like kind of a playoff game,” Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli said. “Especially with the crowd getting into it. It was two good teams going at it, and we were lucky enough to come out on top.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 saves in the Lightning win.
Brandon Hagel staked the Lightning to a 1-0 lead, midway through the first period, off a power play strike.
“I think these last two games, things are going in the right direction,” Cirelli said of Tampa Bay, which was coming off a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. “We’re playing with more structure, kind of limiting our turnovers. When we’re doing that, I think we’ll be good.”
Tampa improved to 31-15-1.
“These last two games have been tied well into the third period and we’ve been able to pull these out and close them out in the end,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “That’s a good sign for us. We’re digging deep when the game is on the line and it’s getting late.”
Hedman scored the game-winner, breaking a 3-2 tie, at 13:9 of the third.
“Yep, I sure did, I just didn’t know who [made contact with him],” Hedman said. “I knew it if was our guy they would’ve blown the whistle. Very lucky.”
Brad Marchand ties the game for Boston, 1-1, with three minutes left in the middle frame.
“I just got on [the ice], so they were tired,” Boston’s Connor Clifton said. “I heard ‘March’ scream for it, so get him the puck. It was back and forth all night. Obviously they’re a really good team, and I’m sure we’ll see them down the line.”
The Bruins dropped to 38-6-4.
“I thought [Linus Ullmark] did great,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought he made a lot of saves look easy. He was in such good position. Vasilevskiy played great too. He made a lot of high-quality saves. It was a playoff-type game.”
Ullmark made 32 saves in the Boston loss.
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