For the second Saturday in a row, the Lightning rallied from a 1-0 deficit after 40 minutes to defeat the Boston Bruins in regulation. Those regulation losses are the only two the Bruins have suffered this year when leading after two periods.
The Bruins dominated possession in those first two periods but could only beat Andrei Vasilevskiy once. The Lightning repeatedly hung in defensively to take away shooting lanes, so only 12 of Boston’s 48 shot attempts went on net. Twenty-two of those 36 other attempts missed the net. At the other end, the Lightning managed only 24 shot attempts but got 13 on goal, so improbably, they outshot Boston, 13-12, through two periods.
The Bruins did grab the lead on a Morgan Geekie breakaway—a sequence that started with a Lightning offensive-zone shift. As the Lightning were executing a partial line change, however, Charlie McAvoy collected the puck and sprung Geekie up the ice. Geekie netted his team-leading 38th goal of the season at 10:47.
There wasn’t one penalty called until the final minute of the second period. Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ retaliatory roughing minor offset Jonathan Aspirot’s trip on Nikita Kucherov.
The first actual power-play came 3:46 into the third, when Elias Lindholm was called for holding. They didn’t generate much on that power play (three Boston shorthanded faceoff wins were a factor) but tied the game on the shift after the penalty ended. Ryan McDonagh delivered an outlet to Gage Goncalves in the neutral zone, and Goncalves fed Brandon Hagel on an in-alone chance. Hagel wristed the puck between the right arm and body of Jeremy Swayman, evening the score at 6:37.
The third period was certainly the Lightning’s best of the game. They spent more time in the offensive zone, which allowed them to produce shots and attempts. Not only did they register 11 shots and 22 shot attempts, but they held Boston to just 12 total attempts. The winning goal came with under two minutes left. In the offensive zone, Brayden Point stripped Mason Lohrei along the boards and maintained control as the Bruins tried to defend him. He angled his way to the top of the right circle and threw the puck on net. Jake Guentzel deflected the shot along the way, and Swayman made the save. But Emil Lilleberg had skated to the top of the crease—he collected the rebound and put it in at 18:25.
The Bruins, after winning the ensuing center-ice faceoff, immediately pulled Swayman for the extra attacker. At 19:23, Hagel was whistled for interference, setting the Bruins up with a six-on-four. But Vasilevskiy made two saves during the kill (a third attempt from Geekie was blocked), and the Lightning concluded the road portion of their regular season with a win.
Two games at home remain for the Lightning before the playoffs begin next weekend.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Pat Maroon):
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 19 saves.
- Emil Lilleberg — Lightning. GWG.
- Brandon Hagel — Goal. Career-high 36th of the season.
