Tampa Bay Lightning Defeat Boston Bruins 3-2 in Shootout

After dropping their first two games of the roadtrip, the Lightning were looking to get back on track. It was a game of elite goaltending on both sides of the ice. In the end, the Lightning left Boston with two points.

Erik Cernak and Nikita Kucherov both scored early to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead just 21 minutes into the game. Cernak opened the scoring after Brandon Hagel set him up off the rush, slamming the puck past Linus Ullmark, and putting them on the board first.

The Bruins started to dominate play for the entirety of the first period, as the Lightning struggled to clear the puck from their own end

The Bolts had the advantage of starting the second period on a power play. In general, second periods have been a struggle for Tampa Bay on the road, but that wasn’t the case last night. Kucherov capitalized on the power play, giving them a 2-0 lead early.

The Bruins responded just 58 seconds later, when Charlie McAvoy’s shot flew past Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Bruins tied the game.

Brad Marchand had a pair of assists in his 1,000th career NHL game.

“Any time you see a guy play 1,000 games, that’s an incredible milestone for anybody. He plays hard. He’s won. He’s played Olympics and World Cups and all those things,” Brayden Point said of Marchand. “Phenomenal player and I think he’s definitely got a lot of respect around the league, that’s for sure.”

Boston was given three power plays in the third-period, but the Lightning penalty kill remained solid throughout. The game remained 2-2, pushing them to another overtime.

The Lightning owned most of the possession, winning the opening face off and both teams prevented the other from scoring. In the end, Point scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Tampa Bay Lighting to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins. Andrei Vasilevskiy was incredible, stopping 36 shots and three more in the shootout.

“They’re phenomenal. They’re a tremendous team and have been since I got into this league. It’s always been great games,” said Victor Hedman.

The Lightning return home for their first game at Amalie Arena since January 27th. They will host the Avalanche on Thursday night.