This was one of the Lightning’s best defensive performances of the season. They were physical with the Bruins, which helped them close out plays quickly and effectively when the puck was in the Tampa Bay defensive zone. They didn’t sacrifice defense for offense, so they avoided costly mistakes. They came out of their own zone cleanly and worked pucks deep into the Boston end. And while it was a game that didn’t feature many scoring chances for either side, the Lightning were able to generate more of them. Importantly, they were able to convert on two of them.
As Andrei Vasilevskiy said afterward, this had the feel of a playoff game. It was a close-checking, defensive game. And the Lightning looked very comfortable playing in that kind of contest. They helped their cause by twice grabbing the lead. First, Mitchell Chaffee converted on an in-alone chance — he accepted a nifty feed from Nick Paul (playing in his 400th career NHL regular season game) and chipped a shot over the stick over Linus Ullmark at 10:06 of the first. Then, with the game knotted at one, Brayden Point corralled the rebound of an Emil Lilleberg shot that caromed off the end boards and swept in a wraparound at 6:50 of the second.
The Lightning did commit one costly turnover — a Pavel Zacha steal led to Danton Heinen’s goal from the slot at 17:11 of the first. But for most of the game, the Lightning made strong, solid plays with the puck. Their high-level puck management allowed them to own a majority of the possession — this was especially true after Point’s goal gave them the lead for good. The Bruins struggled to apply sustained pressure. They managed to post just 24 shots on goal for the game and had only 43 total shot attempts. Other than the Heinen goal, the Bruins generated a few isolated scoring chances for the Bruins. Vasilevskiy took care of those (including an acrobatic rebound save on John Beecher in the first period).
The Bruins were playing the second half of a back-to-back and coming off a hard-fought come-from-behind victory at Florida the night before. On the other hand, the Lightning were facing the first home game back after a long road trip (a week spent in the Pacific Time Zone) — those games can be tricky. But those circumstances didn’t affect the Lightning in the least. They were on their game and made it a difficult night for the Bruins. They got rewarded with an important regulation win and improved their record to 7-0-1 in the past eight.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 23 saves.
- Brayden Point — Lightning. GWG.
- Emil Lilleberg — Lightning. Assist. Five hits.
