There wasn’t much open ice during Saturday’s Atlantic Division matinee in Boston, and offensive chances were hard to find as a result.
And yet, the Tampa Bay Lightning received late heroics to snap a three-game losing skid and cap their divisional road trip in winning fashion.
The first two periods featured few offensive chances for the Lightning, who finally broke through for a pair of goals in the third period—including Emil Lilleberg’s game-winner with 95 seconds left in the game—to stun the Boston Bruins in a 2-1 victory at TD Garden.
Tampa Bay improved to 49-25-6 this season with the win.
The teams combined for only nine shots on goal through a tight-checking first 20 minutes of hockey, but things opened up slightly in the second period.
“We have struggled a little bit with the first period, and we’ve worked more and more into the game,” Lilleberg said. "We need to be better in the first period and work from there so the second and third aren't so important now.”
Boston took advantage of a Tampa Bay line change midway through the second period for the 1-0 goal.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy shipped a long pass to forward Morgan Geekie in the neutral zone for a breakaway, and the latter shelved his shot into the net with 9:13 left in the frame.
“It sucks that we have to give that one up to maybe give our heads a little bit of a shake, but it is what it is,” Brandon Hagel said. "We’re figuring it out, we’re building to the playoffs. We’re a really emotional team, and sometimes it’s tough to hold onto that for 82 games, especially what we’ve done this year. But at the end of the day I thought once our emotion got into it and our intensity, I think that’s when we pushed, and we’ve been doing that all year.”
The Lightning continued to fight in the third period and were rewarded with a breakaway goal of their own—Gage Goncalves fed an outlet pass to Hagel at the offensive blue line, and the latter burst in alone before firing a shot through the blocker of Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman just past the period’s sixth minute.
Hagel’s goal came in his return from a five-game absence with a lower-body injury and marked his 36th tally of the season to establish a new career high in the NHL.
“It feels good,” Hagel said of the goal. "Obviously when you come back sometimes it’s not easy. You have to get in rhythm, and your game can be a little bit frustrating, so it was nice to get one there and nice to get the two points as well.”
The Lightning continued to find their game and repeatedly pressured the Bruins over the final 20 minutes, earning 11 shots on goal in the third period.
The visitors’ final shot with 1:35 left in the game proved to be the difference.
Brayden Point fought off a Boston check atop the offensive zone before ripping a shot toward the net, and Jake Guentzel’s stick got a piece of the puck. The ensuing rebound kicked to Lilleberg at the goalmouth, where he fired the puck into an open net for the game-winner with 95 seconds left.
“We’ve gone 0-3 on this trip and now we’re staring 0-4 in the face, hadn’t scored a goal in the game, and that was talked about a lot in the locker room,” Cooper said. "Hags gives us a spark, he hasn’t been in our lineup for a while, so that was a big goal for us. And then we just kept pushing. We had a couple hair-raising moments with the Bruins pressing, but a big goal by Lilly. What a poised play by him. I had to double-take that it was 78 making that play. But great job by him and then we had to gut one out.”
The goal was Lilleberg’s third of the season and his second game-winning tally.
“Pointer did a really good job on the blue line and I tried to take his spot in front of the net there,” the defenseman said. "He shoots, luckily there was a rebound there, and I'm glad it went in.”
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made the win possible for the visitors, denying numerous quality chances for the Bruins among their 20 shots on goal. He finished with 19 stops and a .950 save percentage for his 38th win of the season and continues to lead all NHL goalies in victories.
“He’s won us games this year. He’s going to continue to win us games,” Hagel said of his goalie. "You can’t bring it every night, and there’s nights when we don’t have it, and he’s there to help us out. He’s been doing it all year, he’s been doing it his entire career. It’s a good feeling going into the playoffs when you have a goalie like that behind you.”
The Lightning return home to Benchmark International Arena for the final two games of the regular season, the first of which is set for 7 p.m. Monday against another divisional foe in the Detroit Red Wings.
Tampa Bay sat third in the Atlantic Division after Saturday’s game and continues a race to finish in a top-two divisional position for home ice advantage when the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing forward here,” Cooper said. "I don’t like the fact that we were down going into the third, I like the fact that we came back. We understand where we’re slotting in here and probably need some help, but if we can give ourselves a chance to get some home ice, there’s still something to play for.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars
1. Emil Lilleberg, TBL (Game-winning goal)
2. Andrei Vasilevsky, TBL (19 SVs)
3. Brandon Hagel, TBL (Goal)
