This game featured one of the most dominant periods in Lightning history. In the second, the Lightning outscored Boston, 3-0. They outshot the Bruins, 20-0. And they held a mindboggling attempt advantage of 42-3. Their work in the middle stanza allowed them to break open a 1-1 game and snap a three-game winless skid.
The Lightning started well, scoring the opening goal at 2:22. In a span of 22 seconds, they fired five shots toward the Boston net. The fifth went in, as Victor Hedman collected a rebound at the bottom of the left circle and snapped it past Jeremy Swayman. The first period was a good one for the Lightning until the closing minutes. A coverage gaffe led to Elias Lindholm’s tying goal at 15:58. The Bruins gained momentum from that tally and carried play through the end of the period.
The Lightning came out strongly to begin the second period and didn’t let their foot off the gas. Not only was their puck play sharp, they were hungry and determined to win puck battles. This allowed them to dominate possession. Their three second-period goals came at the end of shifts in which the Bruins were stuck in the defensive zone for an extended time. Nick Paul tallied his 20th goal of the season at 2:13 when he collected the rebound of an Emil Lilleberg shot and put it into an open side of the net. Anthony Cirelli ended a 10-game goal drought by deflecting in Ryan McDonagh’s point shot at 7:22. The goal was his 21st of the season, a new career high. It also earned him his career-best 46th point. Darren Raddysh cranked a shot from the high slot into the net at 17:08, extending the lead.
The Lightning’s second period was completely one-sided. The Bruins were forced to defend for nearly the entire 20 minutes. They had just a couple of sequences when they even possessed the puck in the offensive zone. Boston only generated one decent look at the Lightning net, but Casey Mittelstadt’s shot from the slot hit one of his teammates before reaching Andrei Vasilevskiy. The second period was the third time in Lightning franchise history that Tampa Bay had held the opposition to zero shots on goal.
The Bruins began the third determined to get pucks to the net. They did so on their first attempt — and scored. Marat Khusnutdinov’s right-point shot found its way past a screened Vasilevskiy at :23. But the Lightning effectively managed the rest of the final frame. They held the Bruins to just three third-period shots after the early goal against. They tacked on two empty-netters. Brandon Hagel netted the first of the goals, his career-best 31st of the season. Erik Cernak picked up an assist on the Hagel goal, setting a new career high with his 19th point.
The victory helped the Lightning finish the road trip with a 1-1-1 record. They’ll head home to face the Flyers on Monday before embarking on another three-game trip.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
- Nick Paul — Lightning. Goal and assist.
- Emil Lilleberg — Lightning. Two assists.
- Yanni Gourde — Lightning. Two assists.
