The Tampa Bay Lightning played aggressively all night long and Steven Stamkos scored the 999th point of his career but came up short in a tough loss to the Boston Bruins, 3-1.
Boston entered Tuesday night’s game with an NHL-record 12-0-0 season-opening record at TD Garden. Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning came to town riding high after an impressive come-from-behind victory the night before.
The Bruins improved to 13-0-0 at home.
The Bruins started quickly with Taylor Hall deflecting a Brandon Carlo shot past Bolts goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy 67 seconds into the game.
Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman held the Lightning at bay for a good portion of the game. Tampa Bay turned up the volume midway however. The Lightning owned the second period. Each line created many opportunities and chances every shift.
Strong backchecking led to quick transitions. It was only a matter of time before the Bolts found the back of the Boston net.
Point no. 999 🫡 pic.twitter.com/KrmzrLJHWB
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) November 30, 2022
Accordingly, Stamkos put the Bolts on the scoreboard late in the second with his 999th point. Coming on the power play, seven of Stamkos’ 13 goals have come with the man advantage. The Lightning seemed to have the upper hand at that point whereas Boston struggled to weather the storm.
Then Hall would answer in the third period with his second goal of the night in the lone power play Boston would have.
Stamkos leads strong effort
Stamkos led a strong Lightning team that came out swinging against a rested Bruins squad. Swayman singlehandedly kept Boston in the game during the second period.
Nikita Kucherov, Vladistav Namestnikov, and Corey Perry created chances throughout the game yet could not get past the Boston goalie.
Mikhail Sergachev made some key defensive plays to lead a defense whose backchecking kept the Bruins scoring chances manageable. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of 24 shots he faced.
“We want to win games,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper remarked after the game. “We didn’t get it done.”
The Bolts certainly had what it took to knock the best team in the NHL off their perch, but a sloppy penalty kill made the difference in the game.
“Can’t kill off one penalty?,” Cooper lamented. “Shame on us!”
The Bruins continue their NHL record home winning streak. The Lightning will focus on finishing games strong.
“We had them on their heels,” Cooper noted. “The game doesn’t end in the second period. We didn’t have the push we had in the second (going into the third).”
Three Stars of the Game
Boston F Taylor Hall. His two goals made the difference. Straightaway he opened up the scoring. Particularly his aggressive play set up some great scoring chances. Thus, he found a way to be in the right place at the right time twice.
Boston G Jeremy Swayman. When he stopped 27 of 28 shots, Swayman kept Boston in the game by limiting Tampa Bay to one goal in the second period. Though the Lightning had several chances to go up in the period, Swayman held his line.
Tampa Bay F Steven Stamkos. Stamkos scored the 999th point of his career on a power play goal in the second period. As much as he would have enjoyed scoring point number 1,000 at TD Garden just as Boston’s Patrice Bergeron did last week at Amalie Arena, Stamkos will need to wait at least 48 more hours to reach the milestone.
What’s Next?
The Lightning look to rebound Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. Puck drop is at 7pm.
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