The failed major not only prevented the Lightning from scoring first, it also gave the Bruins a huge momentum boost. The Bruins dominated play in the minutes after the major expired. They held pucks in the Lightning end and peppered Andrei Vasilevksiy with shots and scoring chances. About a minute and a half after the penalty ended, Drew Stafford roofed a rebound chance into the top of the net and Boston had a 1-0 lead. If not for Vasilevskiy, though, the Bruins would have netted more than one goal during their surge.
At about the 10-minute mark of the second, the Lightning began pushing back. And that led to another key segment. This was the portion of the game in which the Lightning generated their most dangerous scoring chances. The Bolts finished the second period with 17 shots and many of those came when the score was still 1-0. But Tuukka Rask denied those Lightning looks to preserve his team's lead. Then, during a four-on-four late in the frame, the Lightning lost coverage off the rush and Riley Nash set up David Pastrnak for a backdoor goal.
Down 2-0 entering the third, the Lightning tried to make an early push. Their best chance to get on the board came when Nikita Kucherov rifled a shot past Rask, but his attempt rang off the crossbar.