Lightning rally past Bruins for 59th win

TAMPA -- Anthony Cirelli broke a tie with 53 seconds remaining in the third period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning became the fourth team in NHL history to win at least 59 games with a 5-4 victory against the Boston Bruins at Amalie Arena on Monday.

Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists for Tampa Bay (59-14-4), which joined the 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens (59 wins), 1976-77 Canadiens (60) and 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (62). Tampa Bay has clinched the Presidents' Trophy for best regular-season record in the NHL.
Cirelli scored on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Mathieu Joseph for the game-winner.
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Lightning highlights]
"It was a good entry," Cirelli said. "I think we quick upped there and all the guys had a pass in there from [Alex Killorn] to [Ryan McDonagh]. [McDonagh] hits [Joseph] and he puts in right in my wheelhouse there, and I was able to get a quick shot off and it goes in."
Brad Marchand scored twice for Boston (46-21-9), which had its lead for second place in the Atlantic Division trimmed to five points. The third-place Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Florida Panthers 7-5.

The Bruins had won four in a row.
"We expected a tight game and a transition game and being on our toes and keeping the plays simple," Boston center Patrice Bergeron said. "We're happy with some of the things we've done, but they're a good team and they made us pay and we're going to look at the video and tighten up a few things because it could've been a lot better."
The Lightning rallied when Victor Hedman made it 4-3 at 5:36 of the third period and Nikita Kucherov tied it 4-4 at 13:15. Kucherov has 121 points (38 goals, 83 assists) and passed Sergei Fedorov (1993-94, Detroit Red Wings) for second-most points in a season by a Russia-born hockey player in NHL history behind Alexander Mogilny's 127 for the Buffalo Sabres in 1992-93.

"We had some tough calls and some bad bounces," Kucherov said. "So we just tried to stay to our structure and see what happens. [Fortunately] for us, we won."
Stamkos' 40th goal of the season gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 6:42 of the first period. It's the fifth time in his NHL career Stamkos has scored 40 goals and first since the 2014-2015 season.
"There was definitely a little emotion on that one when that one went in," Stamkos said. "It was nice. I've been fortunate to play with some good players this year, and hopefully some more are coming."

Marchand tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 8:30 of the first period off a pass from David Pastrnak.
Stamkos scored again on a one-timer at 14:58 of the first period to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead.
Charlie Coyle scored his 12th goal of the season to tie it 2-2 at 8:42 of the second period.
Brandon Carlo gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at 13:41 of the second period, and Marchand scored his second goal at 14:32 to make it 4-2.
"The third goal against was a tough one, and I think after I scored I might have got a little ahead of myself and started joining the rush a little bit too much there," Carlo said.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 13 saves for the Lightning; Tuukka Rask made 23 for the Bruins.

They said it

"They came back and showed a lot of will for a team that has clinched first place. Clearly, they had an agenda. They wanted to beat the Bruins." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"We were feeling better about our game than the score indicated, we knew [Vasilevskiy] was going to shut the door and then if we were just able to get that next one, we could put some pressure on them. We just moved our feet, we created some penalties, got some power plays which we didn't score, which was disappointing, but it created some momentum and just wore then down a little bit. It was an exciting game." -- Lightning captain Steven Stamkos

Need to know

The Bruins are 287-19-16 with a two-goal lead since 2010-11. … Bergeron had two assists and has an NHL career-high 75 points (31 goals, 44 assists) this season. … Cassidy did not have an update on defenseman John Moore, who did not play after the first period because of an upper-body injury. … Lightning forward Ondrej Palat left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper did not have an update. … Stamkos had his fourth four-point game of the season.

What's next

Bruins: Host the New York Rangers on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN)
Lightning: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SUN, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)