The Backcheck: Bolts come up just short in Boston

In big matchups with two, top-tier teams going head-to-head, the game is often decided by special teams. Lightning fans have seen that scenario play out a multitude of times in the postseason over the past several years. That was the case on Tuesday night in Boston when a power-play goal in the third period by the Bruins ended up being the game-deciding tally as the Bolts fell 3-1 at TD Garden.
After earning two points in Monday night's wild game against the Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay arguably played a better, more rounded game on Tuesday night, but couldn't find a way to earn points against a tough opponent.

TD Garden has proven to be a difficult building to win in for any team across the league this season. Boston is now 13-0-0 at home to start the season, the longest home winning streak to start a season in NHL history. The Bruins are also tied with the New Jersey Devils for the league lead in points with 38.
When the Bolts fell to the B's at AMALIE Arena last Monday, Boston ran away with the game in the second period. On Tuesday, the Lightning were the far superior team in the middle frame and scored their lone goal of the contest, but just couldn't find a way to take the lead.
It's never easy getting scored on early, especially on the road in a hostile environment where things can snowball quickly. Tampa Bay found themselves in a 1-0 hole just 1:07 into the contest when Taylor Hall deflected a point shot from Brandon Carlo that got past Andrei Vasilevskiy and gave the Bruins an early 1-0 lead.
While the Lightning kept their composure and moved forward, it wasn't easy work. Boston played strong in the defensive zone and limited Tampa Bay's high-danger scoring chances, but when Pavel Zacha was whistled for interfering with Ross Colton at the 17:25 mark of the second period, the Bolts finally broke through.
Following a nice keep at the blue line from Victor Hedman, the puck ended up on the stick of Nikita Kucherov, who played catch with Brayden Point before sending a seam pass over to Steven Stamkos, who ripped a quick one-timer past Jeremy Swayman to tie the game at one with 1:40 remaining in the second period.

The goal marked the 999th point and 494th goal of Stamkos's illustrious career. The Lightning captain has been red hot over the past few weeks and extended his season-long point streak to eight games with his goal. He's picked up 14 points during that eight-game span with six goals and eight helpers.
For Kucherov, his primary helper was his 25th assist of the season, the most among all NHL skaters. He's on a three-game point streak of his own with seven points, all assists, during that span.
Point, who collected the secondary assist, also extended his point streak to three games. He has picked up four goals and two assists for six points during the three-game streak.
Entering the third period with the score even at one apiece, Nick Perbix was whistled for tripping just 1:07 into the final frame before the Bruins capitalized on the power play with Hall getting his second goal of the evening.
"It's a tie game in the third period and you come in here and you want to take penalties against Boston and can't kill off one penalty," asked Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "Shame on us."
Hall's power-play goal came on Boston's lone man advantage of the night before Brad Marchand found the empty net with 41 seconds remaining to make it 3-1 and ice the game for the Bruins.
"We didn't get any points," said Cooper. "We want to win games. We held them to two goals. Probably a little bit of a positive is it was a better showing maybe than we did at home, but in the end, we didn't get it done."
While the Bolts failed to earn any points, it did feel like there were times throughout the game where the team was playing extremely well in a very hostile environment against a top team in the NHL, especially in the second period.
Tampa Bay did a great job cycling the puck down well, sustaining offensive zone time, winning battles along the wall and keeping some of Boston's top weapons trapped in their own zone for the duration of their shift. But in the end, not being able to grab the lead in that middle frame proved to be costly.

"We played well," said Cooper when asked about the second period. "We had them on their heels and it got us back in the game.
"We deserved to win that period. We did. But that's not where the game ended.
"We're on a back-to-back. It's tough to come in here. They're a rested team and we've got to grind one out in the third, but we just didn't have that push we had in the second. Maybe we needed to get the lead in the second. We didn't. But again, winnable game, tied going into the third and we just didn't kill off the penalty we needed to."
From here, the Bolts will travel to Philadelphia and try to finish off the three-game road trip with a win and four out of six points. For Ross Colton, he thinks the Lightning can use some of the positive aspects from Tuesday's game heading into the matchup with the Flyers.
"We improved in a lot of areas," said Colton. "Obviously not the outcome that we wanted, but they're a good team. They're the best in the league for a reason, so obviously we're frustrated, but we can build off some things from tonight."
Tampa Bay's matchup with Philadelphia will take place at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.