Bruins defeat Lightning, pad Atlantic lead

TAMPA -- The Boston Bruins extended their lead in the Atlantic Division with a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk scored, and Tuukka Rask made 20 saves for the Bruins (42-13-12), who have won three straight and are nine points ahead of the second-place Lightning.
"The defense] was awesome, we continued it from Long Island," Rask said, referring to the 4-0 win at the New York Islanders on Saturday. "Team defense at both ends of the ice. We got caught in the odd-man [rush] a couple of times, but we managed to sort it out and defend the middle."
***[WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Lightning highlights]*
Rask stopped Anthony Cirelli on a breakaway at 5:05 of the third period that would have tied the game.
"He was good when he had to be," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I thought their goalie (Andrei Vasilevskiy) was excellent as well. It's two Vezina Trophy finalists in my estimation. You expect them to be good."
Mitchell Stephens scored for the Lightning (41-20-5), who are 1-5-0 in their past six games. Vasilevskiy made 33 saves.
"You are not going to win every game, and these are teams you are going to have to go through to make it far this year," Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman said. "So it was a good test for us, and we responded well, especially late in the second and through the third."

Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 19:05 of the first period when Torey Krug floated the puck toward the net and it deflected off of Marchand's leg.
"That's the exact play we wanted," Krug said. "I wanted that puck to land on his stick, and luckily it hit his skate. It was good movement overall."
Marchand extended his point streak to 10 games (five goals, 10 assists). He was a game-time decision because of an illness.
"He came in at 5:30 and took a little medicine or an IV," Cassidy said. "He was going to go through warmups. He [was] lacking some energy for sure, but he scores a big goal for us."
DeBrusk made it 2-0 on a breakaway at 10:05 of the second period. He beat Tampa Bay defenseman Zach Bogosian to a loose puck near the Lightning blue line and beat Vasilevskiy with a backhand for his first goal in 11 games.
"I tried to fake him out and just raise it," DeBrusk said. "I haven't really had too many Grade A's, so I knew I had to make a good move on him. I'm definitely surprised it went in the net."

Stephens cut it to 2-1 at 17:28 when he jammed in a rebound off a shot by Tyler Johnson.
"[Johnson] and [Barclay Goodrow] were working the puck down low," Stephens said. "I just parked myself in front of the net. It hit me in the stomach, so I just turned around and tried to get it through."
Tampa Bay had a goal by Yanni Gourde overturned at 5:24 of the second when Boston coach Bruce Cassidy challenged for offside.
"It's tough, but I felt like we responded well," Goodrow said. "We end up getting a goal not long after that, and from that point of the game on we were the stronger team, we carried the play. But it's tough to get one called back like that."

They said it

"He's a guy that, at his age (23), scoring matters. Maybe more than some other guys. And I'm glad he got it playing the right way. It wasn't just a freebie. He earned it." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on Jake DeBrusk ending his goal drought
"These are the games you want to play in. High-spirited, rivalry games. They are the most fun." -- Lightning forward Barclay Goodrow
"They are a good team, and as of late we've had success against them, and that came when we played our game, not [falling] into their game." -- Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman after Tampa Bay lost to Boston for the first time in five games dating to last season

Need to know

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov was held without a point for the first time since Jan. 12, ending his personal streak at 19 games (14 goals, 17 assists). … Tampa Bay is 16-4-0 against Atlantic Division opponents. … Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara played in his 1,550th NHL game, tying Alex Delvecchio for 15th in League history. … Boston center Patrice Bergeron was 13-of-17 on face-offs.

What's next

Bruins:At the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, FS-F, NESN, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)