The Backcheck: Dominant second period highlights Bolts' win over Bruins

After the Tampa Bay Lightning finished Thursday’s shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers with just 20 shots on goal, multiple members of the Lightning locker room shared postgame that they needed to spring more pucks toward opposing goalies.

They took that message to heart during Saturday’s game in Boston, hitting the 20-shot mark before the second period was over at TD Garden to help salvage their three-game road trip with a 6-2 regulation win over the Bruins.

“It’s huge. Going into a road trip, if you can come out with one point, that’s not a good road trip,” Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh said. “So, coming out with three (points) is great. It was a good win for us to bank and go home with.”

A focus on racking up shots on goal was especially evident in the second period, when Tampa Bay outshot the Bruins 20-0 and scored three times to pull away from the home team and snag their first win in four games.

Saturday marked the first time since Dec. 2, 2000 (Detroit Red Wings) that Tampa Bay has held a team shotless for an entire regulation period. The Lightning ended Saturday with a 39-12 advantage in shots on goal.

“It had to happen,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We had I think 15 shots 5-on-5 last game, which is clearly not enough. But tonight, we played desperate. We played a smart desperate tonight. We got the lead and even though they tied it, we had the mentality to come out and lean on ‘em in the second, and we did. Proud of the guys tonight because we needed this one tonight, and they pulled through.”

The Lightning are now 38-23-5 after the win, which saw another quick start on offense.

Lightning captain Victor Hedman buried his rebound chance near the left post for a 1-0 lead 2:22 into the game. The Lightning had a majority of the opportunities early in the first period before a push by Boston, which tied the game with 4:02 left in the frame.

Boston's Elias Lindholm redirected the puck in the slot after defenseman Andrew Peeke had rushed the puck into the right side of the zone and fed a pass to Lindholm.

A 1-1 tie through 20 minutes was as close as Boston would get.

The Bruins ended the first period with eight shots on goal, a number that did not move in period two—Tampa Bay outshot the Bruins 20-0 in the second period, marking the third time in franchise history that the Lightning held an opponent without a shot on goal for an entire regulation period.

Tampa Bay built on its lead in the process, too. Nick Paul needed only 2:13 into the second period to become the sixth Bolt to hit 20 goals this season after Emil Lilleberg’s shot from the left point hit a Boston defender and fell to Paul near the net. The latter buried the loose puck past Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman for a 2-1 advantage.

Anthony Cirelli set a new career-high in goals (21) and points (46) on the 3-1 goal, redirecting Ryan McDonagh’s point shot past Swayman 7:22 into the middle frame. Raddysh pushed the visitors’ lead to 4-1 with 2:52 left in the period when his shot from the blueline glanced off a Boston defender and into the net.

Forward Yanni Gourde said the Lightning tried to elevate their pace in the second period.

“We played really good tonight,” Gourde said. “And especially in the second period I thought we were relentless on the puck, we played as a unit, everybody was moving together. It's hard to play against the way we played that period.”

Boston’s Marat Khusnutdinov chipped into the Lightning lead 23 seconds into the third period, finding a loose puck in the crease to make it 4-2.

Tampa Bay closed the game with empty-net goals from Brandon Hagel—his career-high 31st of the season—and Cirelli.

Cirelli joined Lilleberg, Hedman, Gourde, Raddysh and Paul to co-lead the Lightning with two points apiece.

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 10 saves for the win.

Tampa Bay returns home to host the Philadelphia Flyers (28-32-8 this season) on Monday.

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Darren Raddysh, TBL (Goal, assist)

2. Nick Paul, TBL (Goal, assist)

3. Emil Lilleberg, TBL (2 assists)