Bruins Fall 6-5 in Shootout to Lightning in Stadium Series 

TAMPA –– The Boston Bruins fell 6-5 in a shootout to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday in the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series.

“It was fun to be part of. The people of Tampa, everything with the crowd and everything around was pretty nice to be part of,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “I give my guys a lot of credit the way they played overall. We take that point, for sure. Just a little disappointed today, but tomorrow will be a different day.”

​The Lightning scored 11 seconds into the first period at Raymond James Stadium, but the Bruins stormed back with three unanswered tallies to make it 3-1 ahead of the middle frame.

Alex Steeves found the 1-1 equalizer with his ninth goal of the season – and first since Dec. 23. Former Lightning Mikey Eyssimont kept the puck in the zone, spun along the boards and found Steeves in the slot, where he one-timed it past Tampa netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. It was Eyssimont’s first point since Dec. 16; he and Steeves skated on the new fourth line with Sean Kuraly.

Morgan Geekie earned the B’s first lead of the night at 15:36, tipping in Charlie McAvoy’s shot from the right side. Jonathan Aspirot picked up the secondary helper, extending his point streak to three games.​

Viktor Arvidsson scored a nearly identical goal off another McAvoy shot – this time on the power play – for the 3-1 lift at 18:03.​

Matt Poitras opened the second period with his first NHL goal since Nov. 2, 2024. He became the youngest player to score in an outdoor game for the Bruins, besting David Pastrnak, who was 22 years old at the 2019 Winter Classic. Mark Kastelic got the puck over to Poitras down the middle, where he drove to the net and flipped it in at 2:22 for the 4-1 advantage.

“Felt good. Cool experience and crazy atmosphere,” Poitras said. “Obviously, rather come out with a win. Felt like I played a good game and felt good out there.”

The 21-year-old forward was recalled from Providence on Thursday; Sunday was his second game with the main club since early March. He centered the third line between Kastelic and Tanner Jeannot. Centers Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha were out due to injury.

​Geekie logged his second goal – and third point – of the game off a cross-crease pass from Pastrnak at 8:18 to make it 5-1. It marked Geekie’s team-leading 32nd goal of the year, and sixth in five games.

“We know they’re a great team over there, and to get out to the lead that we did when we did – be in control of the game and then just kind of hand it right back to them – especially in our division and what we’re playing for right now, adds to the volume of everything,” Geekie said. “This one stings for sure.”

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on the power play to make it 5-2 at 10:28, and then, 30 seconds later, all eyes darted towards center ice where Jeremy Swayman and Vasilevskiy dropped the gloves.

​“Fighting the biggest, toughest goalie in the league, so wouldn’t be my first choice. Glad we got the first one out of the way, probably retire after that,” said Swayman, who made 41 saves. “That’s game respecting game.”

It was the first-ever goaltender fight at an outdoor NHL game.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Poitras said. “That’s probably the craziest game I’ve been part of. Felt like a really long game, too. Never seen anything like that before.”

​The Lightning potted two more power-play goals – from Darren Raddysh and Nick Paul – to pull to 5-4 heading into the third period. Nikita Kucherov knotted things 5-5 at 11:50 of the third, forcing overtime.

It looked like Pastrnak won it all in OT, but the goal was called off due to a delayed penalty beforehand.​

“I have no clue what happened, honestly. Turnover, we got a 2-on-1, the referee has his arm up, is letting it go, Sway is going to the bench. Finish the play, score a goal and all of a sudden, I’m in the penalty box,” Pastrnak. “I don’t understand. I’ve never seen something like that.”​

Tampa Bay ultimately earned the contest’s second point in a shootout.

“Just the way the game went, we just didn't have our composure, I would say,” Sturm said. “I don’t think they were better than us today, hockey-wise. But they were better than us after the whistle. They’re not tougher than us, but they did a good job. We just lost our composure a little bit, and it cost us, unfortunately, a point.”