In their previous two losses coming in, the Bolts had coasted through the opening 20 minutes, while spotting the opposition early leads. On Saturday, Tampa Bay brought the energy right from the opening draw, squaring off in two separate fights nine seconds in that set the tone for what would be an intense matchup between the two Atlantic Division rivals.
The Bruins did strike first with a power play goal at 6:46 of the first period, but Victor Hedman responded with a shorthanded goal midway through the period to tie things at one.
Ultimately the game would be won for Boston on a Garnet Hathaway goal late in the second period that gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish.
Another stiff test awaits the Lightning on Tuesday, as they travel to Raleigh to face the Hurricanes.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
BOS 1, TBL 0
6:46 Patrice Bergeron (27) - Brad Marchand, Hampus Lindholm - PPG
Tampa Bay leaned heavily on its penalty killers early, taking three minors in the opening 5:33 of the game. After two successful kills to start, the Bruins converted on their third chance. Victor Hedman did a good job tying up Patrice Bergeron in front of the net, but Brad Marchand's centering feed took a deflection off Bergeron's skate and went in to give Boston the lead.
BOS 1, TBL 1
9:30 Victor Hedman (8) - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Alex Killorn - SHG
Even as the Lightning continued to take penalties, they managed to tie the game on a Hedman shorthanded goal. High in the offensive zone, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare left a touch feed for Hedman fresh off the bench. Hedman wound up a heavy slapshot that was redirected off a Boston stick and beat Linus Ullmark.
2nd Period
BOS 2, TBL 1
17:32 Garnet Hathaway (12) - Matt Grzelcyk, Tomas Nosek
Boston scored the first even strength goal of the game late in the second period to retake the lead. Matt Grzelcyk's shot from the point was stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy, but the rebound was batted out of midair by Garnet Hathaway in front and into the Lightning net.
3rd Period
No Scoring
