Lightning tie it in final seconds, defeat Bruins in OT

TAMPA -- Steven Stamkos tied it with five seconds left in the third period, and Brandon Hagel scored at 1:19 of overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-4 win against the Boston Bruins at Amalie Arena on Monday.

Victor Hedman sent a stretch pass to Hagel, who received the puck behind two defenders and scored on a breakaway to give Tampa Bay its third straight victory.

"I'll give some credit to practice," Hagel said. "We've been working on it a few times. It's big stringing three together. We want to keep it rolling, but it's one day at a time and one game at a time."

Stamkos had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (9-6-4), who lost their first four overtime games this season. Jonas Johansson made 23 saves.

"We've kind of flipped the table here these last couple of games," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "You want to have the ability to come from behind, but you don't want to make it a practice of falling behind all the time. That's happened to us the last couple of games."

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (13-1-3), who are 4-0-2 in their past six games. Jeremy Swayman made 41 saves.

"I think we need to develop a little more poise and understanding of time and score and how to close out games," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "Obviously we gave up two leads in the third and you never want to do that."

Stamkos tied it 4-4 at 19:55 with a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a cross-ice pass by Nikita Kucherov with Johansson pulled for an extra attacker.

"I know ‘Kuch's’ abilities, I see Kuch going to the backhand, there's only maybe one other guy in the League that can make that pass," said Stamkos, the Lightning captain. "I know it's coming, or he's attempting to do it and if it gets through I've got a good chance to get it on net. Just a world-class play."

Charlie Coyle had given the Bruins a 4-3 lead at 16:09 with a one-timer off a pass from behind the net by James van Riemsdyk.

"It's a shame we couldn't pull it off," Coyle said. "We had a couple of third-period leads and we can't afford to give those up. Good teams are going to keep battling like that, but we're a good team too. We have to make sure that we play the right way and are doing the right things, especially with a lead."

Tanner Jeannot put the Lightning up 1-0 at 6:39 of the first period when he charged the net and lifted a rebound over Swayman’s pad.

Pavel Zacha tied it 1-1 at 9:55 at the side of the net off a pass from Pastrnak after Boston forced a turnover on the forecheck.

Nicholas Paul put Tampa Bay ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 19:30 of the second period, redirecting a shot from Mikhail Sergachev.

"The effort level from the guys these last few games ... they're being rewarded for it," Cooper said. "It's not always perfect ... but I'm just really happy for the guys."

Pastrnak tied it 2-2 at 6:26 of the third with a shot from the point through traffic that beat Johansson to the glove side.

John Beecher gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at 7:47 when he scored from the high slot after forcing a turnover.

"I loved how resilient we were," Montgomery said. "We just kept coming back. The belief on the bench was always that we were going to be able to win that game."

Austin Watson tied it 3-3 at 8:44 with his first goal as a member of the Lightning. He scored on a one-timer from the right circle off Anthony Cirelli’s pass from behind the net.

"For the most part I thought we didn't turn the puck over, we made the hard plays," Stamkos said. "And we made the hard plays at the right time. We have some guys that are stepping up and getting more confident and comfortable."

NOTES: Pastrnak has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) during a seven-game point streak. ... Kucherov left the game midway through the second period with a limp, but returned in the third. ... Stamkos has 41 points (28 goals, 13 assists) in 50 games against the Bruins and became the fourth active player with at least 40 points against at least 14 teams, joining Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (14) and Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Evgeni Malkin (16) and Sidney Crosby (15). ... Watson signed a one-year, $776,665 contract with Tampa Bay on Oct. 9. … Cirelli played 19:30 after missing one game with a hand injury.