Cirelli scores twice, Lightning hand Bruins 1st loss

BOSTON -- Anthony Cirelli scored twice, and the Tampa Bay Lightning won for the first time this season with a 4-3 victory against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Monday.

Pontus Holmberg had a goal and assist, and Yanni Gourde scored for the Lightning (1-2-0). Jake Guentzel and Gage Goncalves each had two assists. Jonas Johansson made 30 saves in his season debut.

"They were good on both ends of the ice," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said about the line of Holmberg, Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand. "There's some chemistry between them, and their ability to play at both ends, and as you saw tonight, their ability to generate offense. That group was really good."

Casey Mittelstadt, Jordan Harris and Morgan Geekie scored for the Bruins (3-1-0), who lost for the first time this season. Pavel Zacha had two assists, and Joonas Korpisalo made 19 saves.

"[The Lightning] came out to play," Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. "They lost two in a row, and we knew they wanted to get to work right away, and we weren't ready and that's why we made mistakes."

Cirelli redirected a centering pass from Guentzel past Korpisalo for a 1-0 lead at 1:09 of the first period.

Cirelli then made it 2-0 at 13:16 of the second, beating Korpisalo to the glove side. Guentzel set up the play with a backhand, centering pass from behind the net.

Gourde scored on a tap-in 39 seconds into the second period for a 3-0 lead off a turnover.

"We came out flying," Cirelli said. "It was a good start. We did some good things throughout the game. Obviously, there are some things we still need to get a little bit better at but it's always nice to come out with a win."

Boston responded to get within 3-1 at 1:09 when Mittelstadt scored on a wrist shot from the slot that beat Johansson to the short side.

Holmberg stuffed in a rebound at 3:37 of the second for a 4-1 lead.

Harris scored his first goal with the Bruins, finishing a 2-on-1 at 5:31 of the second to cut the lead to 4-2.

Harris, who is from Haverhill, Massachusetts, signed with the Bruins as a free agent on July 1.

"It's something that I've dreamed about, it's something that I've seen thousands of times on TV but special especially to be able to do it here at home," Harris said.

Geekie's power-play goal made it 4-3 at 11:35.

"They never gave up and there's no quit in them," Cirelli said of Boston's push. "They kept coming and coming. We had too many penalties, too many turnovers, which hurt us, but (Johansson) was huge back there and made unbelievable saves. It came down to the wire, but it was nice to get the win."

The Bruins went 0-for-5 on the power play with six shots on goal.

"We were just a little bit too slow," Sturm said of the power play. "Yes, plays were there, but our puck speed was not there, and we need those moments in those tight hockey games, especially against a veteran team like Tampa. You've got to grab those moments and we just didn't do it today."

NOTES: The Lightning avoided beginning a season with three straight losses for the first time since 2009-10 (0-1-2). … Zacha is one of three Bruins players since 2019-20 with at least four assists through his first four games of a season; David Pastrnak (five in 2022-23) and Connor Clifton (four in 2022-23) are the others. … Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser made his season debut after serving a two-game suspension for boarding Florida Panthers forward Jesper Boqvist during a preseason game on Oct. 4. He had an assist in a game-high 24:23 of ice time.