In Tampa, the mediocre play of the Lighting caught them again on Friday night in a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in extra time. 
Charlie Coyle hit for the winner at 3:27 of the extra session.
“It was a quick break, there was a little collision at the blue line,” Coyle said. “Jake [DeBrusk] tried to find me for a 2-on-1 … [there ended up being a] loose puck behind the net, Jake goes and gets it … [and] it kind of went right to me, and I kind of walked out front and just tried to put it in, and luckily it did.”
The win pushed the Bruins into sole possession of third in the Atlantic and leaves the Bolts in the wild card position.
Linus Ullmark made 28 saves in the Boston win.
“It’s fun to play these sort of games when it’s getting close to the playoffs and you’re actually a part of it,” Ullmark said. “There are still 11 games to focus on and we’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves. We’re trying to battle for home-ice advantage, and we’ve got to bring it every night.”
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was the lone striker for Tampa.
“The process was really good tonight. Unfortunately, we fell behind again. We didn’t like that,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “But I didn’t mind the way we were playing, and we answered right away. You need a push in the third period and I thought we gave it. … The puck didn’t go in for us and sometimes that happens.
“Did we want two [points]? We did. We got one. Let’s take it and move on. Could we have easily gotten two tonight? We could’ve. Now we’ve got [the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, a team] that has been playing well as of late. Let’s continue taking steps forward.”
The loser’s point padded the Tampa lead for the first wild card position.
“For us, we look ahead to the next game,” the Lightning’s Victor Hedman said. “We’re not too worried about the standings or anything. It’s about the process and this was a step in the right direction.”
Boston improved to 45-21-5.
Jake DeBrusk scored for Boston in regulation.
“I thought Jake was our best forward tonight in terms of all-around play,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He was engaged in the game and trying to be physical on the forecheck. He was winning pucks and played a little on the (penalty) kill. He did a really good job for us.”
Tampa dropped to 43-20-8.
“If you play the way we played tonight you’re going to win a lot more than you lose,” Bellemare said. “It’s tough because you lost the game, so at times when you lose the game, it’s difficult to come out with positive insight. But the coaches have been trying to make us understand that this is a step in the right direction and build on that.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves in the Tampa loss.
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