Marchand, Pastrnak Lead Bruins to Road Victory in Tampa

TAMPA -The Bruins left the cold behind and brought the heat to Tampa Bay with a 5-2 win at Amalie Arena on Saturday night. The B's brought their A-game early, with David Pastrnak scoring just 1:11 into the first period and again just five minutes later. Brad Marchand wanted in on the action, too, getting his first of two goals only 26 seconds into the second period to put the B's up by three.

Head Coach Bruce Cassidy was pleased with the B's style of play, particularly their puck battles, an area Boston's bench boss has been emphasizing. "I think our puck battle, to be honest," Cassidy said when asked what impressed him most about the B's victory. "I think a lot of our goals were generated winning pucks in the wall, playing north, minimizing mistakes in terms of them getting easy chances."
Most importantly, he added, the B's played at a pace that was difficult for the Lightning to catch up.
"We played a hard to play against type of style tonight," said Cassidy.

Marchand helped bring the energy needed early on to get a head start on a talented Lightning team, scoring early in the second period before taking advantage of the empty net in the final minutes to seasl the victory. While pleased with the victory, the B's leading scorer noted it counts for just one win the standings.
"We can't look too deep into it because it is only two points," said Marchand. "But I think it shows - there were some question marks early in the year about the teams we were beating and the teams we weren't beating, and obviously Tampa's one of the top teams in the league.
"So it feels good. This is a big win for a group and it's another game that we can continue to build on."
Marchand also pointed out the amount of catching up there is to do for the Bruins. The Lightning have played 37 games compared to the Bruins' 31.
"We have some make up games here to catch up to some other teams and we have to keep winning," said Marchand. "And ultimately, as long as we get the points and we're going to continue to put ourselves in a good position."
A player that has continued to work on his game is Anton Blidh, who scored his second goal of the season Saturday night. Blidh's goal came late in the second period off a nice dish from fellow Sweden native Oskar Steen. Blidh was was credited with doing the little things necessary to get in position to make a play.
"With Blidh's goal, we win a puck in the neutral zone, we win a puck inside the zone, Steen uses his body; there was a lot of those little plays that - maybe not fancy plays - but little plays that we did well," said Cassidy.

Linus Ullmark held it down in net saving 27 of the 29 shots for a .931 save percentage. Ullmark entered the night excited to embrace the pressure of playing the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
"Instead of anxiety, it's a feeling of excitement," said Ullmark. "It's always fun to play the best teams in the league because you really have to be sharp and on point, everything you're doing and it's a test."
Ullmark credited his teammates, who limited the amount of pressure in front of the net. "We forced them to make mistakes, and in my mind, what I saw at least, whenever there was a play that was being made we were in the right positions to keep it away from the net," said Ullmark.
The B's will look to stay hot on the road as they travel to Washington, D.C. to take on the Captials Monday night at Capital One Arena.

Foligno Leaves Early

Cassidy provided a update on Nick Foligno, who left the game with a lower-body injury in the second period after going down in front of Tampa's net.
"A lower body, obviously, you saw kind of his leg buckle there, so I suspect we'll have a better update [on Sunday]," said Cassidy. "We knew right away he wouldn't return, but in terms of how bad it is, I think give us a couple of days. My guess is we'll probably rule him out for Monday and then if I have an update for it [Sunday], I'll certainly give it to you."