The Bruins, as they have done all season, checked. They limited turnovers. They played with structure. Similarly, the Lightning also checked, limited turnovers, and played with structure. As a result, this matchup felt like a playoff game.
Jon Cooper matched lines throughout the night. Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, and Alex Killorn saw much of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Taylor Hall. While it's true that Marchand scored one of Boston's two goals, that tally came during four-on-four action. During five-on-five play, Cirelli's line did its job against the Bergeron unit - they owned plenty of possession and kept the puck out of dangerous areas. It helped that Cirelli did well in the circle against Bergeron, who entered the game with a face-off percentage of 62.4%. Cirelli won 12 of 17 face-offs against Bergeron, including four of five in the Tampa Bay defensive zone.
Even with the Lightning defending tightly, the dangerous Bruins managed to create several scoring chances. Andrei Vasilevskiy delivered a terrific performance, stopping 36 of 38 shots. Only Marchand's screened shot late in the second and Pavel Zacha's tally at the end of a tic-tac-toe passing play early in the third eluded him.
The Lightning generated plenty of Grade-A looks themselves. Linus Ullmark nearly matched Vasilevskiy save-for-save - he stopped 32 of 35 shots.
But three pucks got past Ullmark. During a first-period Lightning power play, Hagel was left open in front of the Boston net and he finished a shot into the top of the goal. Early in the third, the Lightning scored off Steven Stamkos face-off win - Kucherov's left circle shot deflected off Brayden Point and in.. And finally, with under seven minutes remaining, Point sped through the neutral zone and created a two-on-one rush. His attempted pass to Stamkos was offline. But as it caromed off the corner boards, Brandon Carlo collided with Ullmark. Victor Hedman collected the puck at the bottom of the left circle and snapped it into the top of the net at 13:19. For the third time, the Lightning had grabbed the lead. This one they didn't relinquish.
This may have been the Lightning's most impressive, complete outing of the year. Which was exactly what they needed to beat the Bruins.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy - Lightning. 36 saves.
2. Brandon Hagel - Lightning. PPG.
3. Nikita Kucherov - Lightning. Three assists.
