Two goals 15 seconds apart got the Lightning off to a roaring start.
Ondrej Palat picked up right where he left off in Game 2 and gave Tampa Bay the early lead with a power play goal. The struggling Lightning power got its first goal of the series when Palat's one-timer deflected off the stick of Zdeno Chara and past Jaroslav Halak.
Off the ensuing faceoff, Yanni Gourde made it 2-0. Bad luck bit the Bruins on the play, as the linesman ended colliding with Jeremy Lauzon allowing Gourde to come in alone on Halak. Gourde waited for Halak to make the first move before elevating his shot over the goaltender to double the lead.
In the second period, the Lightning opened an offensive onslaught on Boston.
Mikhail Sergachev and Brad Marchand traded power play goals in the opening five minutes, but the Lightning would close the period with three unanswered goals to firmly take control.
Alex Killorn's power play goal midway through the period chased Halak and forced Boston to turn to Dan Vladar to make his NHL debut in goal. Brayden Point welcomed him to the game with a beautiful forehand move on a breakaway to build the lead to four. Three minutes later, Killorn added his second of the night, burrying a rebound after a lively bounce off the boards behind Vladar fell right to his stick.
With all the fireworks in the second, the final frame was relatively calm. Nikita Kucherov scored the lone goal four minutes in. Tampa Bay seemed content to sit back defensively for the remainder of regulation to lockdown the win.
Five Lightning players finished with multi-point nights. Kucherov led the way with a goal and three assists.
Tampa Bay's power play, which had been held without a goal in the Columbus series and through the first two games against Boston, broke out of its slump with three goals in six chances.
With Andrei Vasilevskiy getting the start in both halves of the back-to-back, the Lightning did a good job limiting the amount of pressure he faced. Vasilevskiy stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced and was never really faced with consistent pressure at any point. As the series goes on, that should benefit Vasilevskiy who has played every minute of the playoffs so far.
The Lightning and Bruins are back at it in Game 4 on Friday night.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
TBL | 12:46 Ondrej Palat (2) - Mikhail Sergachev, Nikita Kucherov - PPG
TBL | 13:01 Yanni Gourde (3) - Blake Coleman, Erik Cernak
2nd Period
TBL | 2:14 Mikhail Sergachev (1) - Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point - PPG
BOS | 4:56 Brad Marchand (7) - Torey Krug, David Pastrnak - PPG
TBL | 8:35 Alex Killorn (3) - Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov - PPG
TBL | 15:23 Brayden Point (6) - Alex Killorn, Mikhail Sergachev
TBL | 18:01 Alex Killorn (4) - Yanni Gourde, Zach Bogosian
3rd Period
TBL | 3:58 Nikita Kucherov (4) - Brayden Point
