Nuts & Bolts: Lightning draw Bruins in Second Round

Game 1 between the Lightning and Bruins on Sunday night will actually be the teams' second meeting of the postseason.

Tampa Bay earned a 3-2 victory over Boston in the second game of the Round Robin on August 5. With the game tied 2-2 late in the third, Tyler Johnson streaked the Bruins defense and scored on a rebound to lift the Bolts to a win.

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP
Tampa Bay is 8-5 all-time against Boston in the postseason, including a 3-2 victory in the second game of this year's Round Robin, Tyler Johnson breaking a 2-2 tie with 1:27 remaining to score the game-winning goal...The Lightning have faced the Bruins twice before in a best-of-seven playoff series, most recently in the 2018 Second Round when the Bolts won four in a row after dropping the opener to advance with a 4-1 series win...Brayden Point led the Lightning for scoring (3-4--7) and Point and Ondrej Palat shared the TBL lead for goals in the series (3 goals each)...Andrei Vasilevskiy went 4-1 in the series win and posted a .909 save percentage and 2.38 GAA...Tampa Bay and Boston also met in the 2011 Eastern Conference Final, the Bruins winning the series 4-3 by virtue of a 1-0 win in Game 7...Tampa Bay finished 3-1-0 against Boston during the regular season, winning both games at TD Garden and splitting a pair of games at AMALIE Arena...Brayden Point (2-2--4) paced the Bolts for scoring in the regular season vs. Boston; Steven Stamkos netted two goals to share the goal lead with Point.

TONIGHT'S STORYLINES
The Lightning are in the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth time in the last six seasons, tied with Washington for the most such appearances since 2015...The Bolts are in the Second Round for the seventh time overall...Tampa Bay is 10-15 all-time in Game 1s...The Lightning have scored the opening goal in six of their eight playoff games, including the last four games in a row...Since the 2015 playoffs, the Lightning have 42 wins, most in the NHL (2nd: WSH - 41)...Six of Tampa Bay's eight postseason games so far have been decided by one goal, the Lightning winning all six (0-2 in games decided by more than one goal)...The Bolts are searching for their first four-game win streak in the postseason since taking four straight from the Bruins in a 2018 Second Round series.

POINTING THE WAY
Tampa Bay center Brayden Point scored the game-winning, series-clinching overtime goal and added two assists in Game 5 vs. CBJ for his second career postseason game of three-plus points (also: 1-3--4 in Game 2 2018 Second Round vs. BOS)...Point is the fifth Lightning player to have multiple 3 point playoff games before turning 25 years old, joining Nikita Kucherov (8), Steven Stamkos (3), Tyler Johnson (2) and Brad Richards (2)...Point, who also scored the 5OT game-winner in Game 1 vs. CBJ, became the fifth Lightning player to record multiple career overtime goals in the playoffs, joining Martin St. Louis (3), Vincent Lecavalier (2), Tyler Johnson (2) and Nikita Kucherov (2)...Point also became the second Lightning player to score a series-clinching goal in overtime; Martin St. Louis did it twice, in Game 6 of 2003 Conference Quarterfinals vs. WSH and Game 5 of 2004 Conference Quarterfinals vs. NYI...Point registered his seventh career multi-point playoff game in Game 5 and second of the 2020 Playoffs (both in 1st Rd.)...Point has recorded at least one point in seven of eight games and paces the Lightning for goals and scoring this postseason (5-5--10)...Point ranks T-6th in the NHL for goals and scoring in the 2020 Playoffs.

IN THE NIK OF TIME
Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov tallied three assists in Game 5 vs. CBJ to match his career high for scoring in a playoff game set eight times previously (last: 2-1--3 in Game 4 2018 First Rd. at NJD)... Kucherov recorded three assists in a playoff game for the third time in his career (last: 3 assists in Game 2 2015 ECF at NYR)...With his three assists in Game 5, Kucherov overtook Martin St. Louis to become Tampa Bay's all-time playoff scoring leader.

TBL ALL-TIME PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS

1. Nikita Kucherov - 31-39--70 pts. (73 GP)

2. Martin St. Louis - 33-35--68 pts. (63 GP)

3. Tyler Johnson - 27-28--55 pts. (76 GP)

Kucherov recorded his second multi-point game of the 2020 Playoffs (both in 1st Rd.) and 20th of his career in Game 5 vs. CBJ...Kucherov ranks second all-time in Lightning history for multi-point playoff games.

TBL ALL-TIME PLAYOFF MULTI-POINT GAME LEADERS

1. Martin St. Louis - 24 multi-pt. games

2. Nikita Kucherov - 20 multi-pt. games

3. Steven Stamkos - 15 multi-pt. games

Since the start of the 2015 playoffs, Kucherov ranks tied for second in the NHL for playoff goals (30) and third for playoff scoring.

NHL PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS SINCE 2015

1. Sidney Crosby (PIT) - 27-48--75 pts. (73 GP)

2. Alex Ovechkin (WSH) - 38-32--70 pts. (78 GP)

3. Nikita Kucherov (TBL) - 30-39--69 pts. (71 GP)

4. Logan Couture (SJS) - 30-35--65 pts. (60 GP)

Kucherov has posted a point in 29 of the last 32 games he's played going back to the regular season, notching 18 goals and 27 assists over that stretch...Kucherov has posted a point in all but five games he's played in the 2020 calendar year (34 out of 39 games with a point), posting 22 goals and 31 assists over that stretch.

VASY FOR VEZINA
Bolts goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37-of-41 shots in Game 5 vs. CBJ, tied for the fifth-most saves he's made in a playoff game...Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in the 2nd period of Game 5 to set a new Lightning playoff record for most saves in one period (previous high: 18, set twice before, last by Vasilevskiy in 3rd period of 2018 Game 2 vs. NJD)...Vasilevskiy improved to 6-2 in the 2020 Playoffs and ranks tied for second in the NHL for wins...Vasilevskiy recorded his 21st career playoff victory in Game 5 vs. CBJ to tie Ben Bishop and Nikolai Khabibulin for the most wins in Lightning playoff franchise history...Vasilevskiy made his 36th career playoff start in Game 5 to move into a tie with Ben Bishop for most playoff starts in Lightning history.

TBL ALL-TIME PLAYOFF GOALIE STARTS LEADERS

T-1. Ben Bishop - 36 starts (36 GP)

T-1. Andrei Vasilevskiy - 36 starts (41 GP)

3. Nikolai Khabibulin - 33 starts (33 GP)

TONY THE TIGER
Tampa Bay center Anthony Cirelli tallied the game-tying goal and added an assist in Game 5 vs. CBJ for his first career multi-point game in the postseason...Cirelli scored his fourth career playoff goal and first since Game 1 of a 2019 First Round series vs. CBJ...Cirelli finished with a goal and two assists to rank tied for third on the Bolts for scoring in the First Round.

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT
Lightning forward Tyler Johnson scored the game-opening goal in Game 1 vs. CBJ for his first and only goal of the First Round and third goal of the 2020 Playoffs...Johnson ranks second on the Bolts for goals this postseason behind only Brayden Point (5)...Johnson scored the game-winning goal in Tampa Bay's Round Robin win over Boston for his eighth career playoff game-winning goal, tied with Martin St. Louis for most all-time on the Lightning.

TBL ALL-TIME PLAYOFF GWG LEADERS

T-1. Martin St. Louis - 8 GWGs (63 GP)

T-1. Tyler Johnson - 8 GWGs (76 GP)

3. Brad Richards - 7 GWGs (45 GP)

HED OF THE CLASS
Bolts defenseman Victor Hedman finished with a goal and an assist in the series vs. CBJ and led all Lightning skaters for average TOI (31:07) in the First Round (3rd for avg. TOI in the NHL in 1st Rd. behind CBJ's Seth Jones and Zach Werenski)...Hedman ranked second among NHL defensemen (T 5th among all skaters) for shots (23) in the First Round behind only STL's Alex Pietrangelo (23)...Hedman needs one point to tie Vincent Lecavalier for fifth place among Tampa Bay's all-time playoff scoring leaders.

TBL ALL-TIME PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS

4. Steven Stamkos - 23-30--53 pts. (70 GP)

5. Vincent Lecavalier - 24-28--52 pts. (63 GP)

6. Victor Hedman - 8-43--51 pts. (92 GP)

7. Brad Richards - 18-29--47 pts. (45 GP)

THE ROAD AHEAD
Game 2 - Tuesday, August 25 - 7 p.m.
Game 3 - Wednesday, August 26 - 8 p.m.
Game 4 - Friday August 28 - 7:30 p.m.
Game 5* - Sunday, August 30 - TBD
Game 6* - Tuesday, September 1 - TBD
Game 7* - Wednesday, September 2 - TBD