With a season-high six-game road trip winding down, the Tampa Bay Lightning took on one of their biggest rivals in the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins. Coming off a 3-1 win in Montreal on Tuesday, Tampa came into tonight’s game looking to win consecutive games for the first time this season.
On the other side, the Bruins entered this contest with a 5-1-0 record and were looking to win their third straight on home ice. Meanwhile, the Lightning sought to end an up-and-down road trip on a high note.
An early surge
The Lightning came out flying to begin this game, opening up a 6-0 shot advantage only four minutes into the game. It not only rallied the players together, but made Boston tighten up their game plan. Soon enough, Boston would answer with a first period power play goal by David Pastrnak, who has been on a scoring spree over the last two games. Despite allowing that goal, Tampa Bay chipped away. In the final seconds, Brayden Point split the Boston defense as he tied the game up, stunning the Boston crowd as he made it a 1-1 game with 0.8 seconds left in the first period.
Your @sonnysbbq goal of the game: Pointerrrrrrrr 🔥 #TBLvsBOS pic.twitter.com/WmfgchsNL9
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 18, 2019
Deja vu in Boston
Tampa came out in the second period much like the first, but Boston was faster on the puck. Just like in the first, the Bruins scored again on a power play, this time by Patrice Bergeron. The Lightning’s habit of taking penalties and killing them off has turned into a big problem this season. Boston gernated numerous chances on each power play they received, but couldn’t capitalize on all of them. Soon after the second Bruins goal, Alex Killorn took a shot that trickled by Tuukka Rask, and Mathieu Joseph went hard to the net and tapped home the easy rebound as it knotted up the game at two apiece. That would be all the teams would muster in that period, but with two fast-paced teams that play with high energy, there would be lots of emotion in the third.
Shattenkirk’s offensive surge continues
In the third period, both teams clawed back attempting to break the tie and take the lead. One Lightning player rose to the occasion. Kevin Shattenkirk, who has been an offensive force for Tampa this season, scored on a pass from Steven Stamkos to make it 3-2. However, the lead didn’t last long, as the Lightning committed another penalty. Soon after, Boston capitalized on the power play to knot the game up 3-3. Both teams continued to play with urgency in the final minutes of regulation and 3-on-3 overtime, yet found themselves unable to keep the game from going to a shootout.
Stamkos delivers in the skills competition
After a fairly entertaining overtime period, the Lightning and Bruins would settle their game in a shootout. The Lightning led off the shootout with Victor Hedman, who didn’t score. Boston led off with Charlie Coyle, who also didn’t score. Both teams were held scoreless through three rounds with their best shooters getting denied by the opposing goalie. That is, until Stamkos came up in the fourth round, took a shot on Rask, went top corner, and scored. Rask didn’t have any time to react on Stamkos’ wicked shot. Jake DeBrusk came up for Boston, and Andrei Vasilevskiy shut him down, ending the road trip with back-to-back wins.
Tampa Bay gained two points and took a 1-0 series lead against Boston in their first of four meetings this season. The Bolts return home Saturday night to face Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche at 7:00 pm.
Our Three Stars of the Game
1. David Pastrnak – Scored two goals and assisted on one for a three point night.
2. Steven Stamkos – Scored the game winning shootout for the Lightning as well as being 75% in the faceoff circle.
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy – Made a flurry of big saves and kept Tampa in it during the shootout.
