Domingue, Lightning hold off Bruins, win fifth straight

TAMPA -- Louis Domingue made 33 saves, and Mathieu Joseph and Anthony Cirelli scored third-period goals to help the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Brayden Point scored for the Lightning (22-7-1), who have won five consecutive games and eight of their past nine (8-1-0). They lead the NHL with 45 points. Domingue got his fourth straight win.
"It's always a good game against Boston," Domingue said. "No matter how they've played before we know they are going to bring it. And they played very well but we had a good response."
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Lightning highlights]

David Pastrnak and David Krejci scored for the Bruins (14-10-4), who have lost three straight. Tuukka Rask made 27 saves.
"I thought we did a good job," Rask said. "We played a pretty solid game. We started good. I thought we defended well. In the third we had a couple of breakdowns and I know I would like to have made one or two saves. The gap was too big after that."
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy returned to the lineup after missing 20 games because of a concussion. He had two shots, two hits and a blocked shot, and was minus-1 in 21:02 of ice time.
"When I'm playing my best, I'm going and trying to make offense out of defense," McAvoy said. "First period was tough, I had to shake some rust off and I kind of stepped on a puck there. Second and third I thought I came together and kind of played my brand of hockey."

Joseph gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 2:40 after Alex Killorn found him with a pass in the slot and he beat Rask with a backhand through the five-hole.
"I think [Killorn] made a great play, between the guy's legs," Joseph said. "I didn't have much and I was lucky that it went in. It was a big goal."
Cirelli made it 3-1 at 4:03 with a shorthanded goal. He intercepted a pass from Pastrnak to start a breakaway and beat Rask with a backhand.

Krejci made it 3-2 with 1:45 remaining on a shot from the point with Rask pulled for an extra skater.
"I thought we responded well (from a 5-0 loss at the Florida Panthers on Tuesday)," Rask said. "Obviously that wasn't our style of hockey in Florida. We wanted to respond and we did but we fell short to a good team."
Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 2:04 of the first period after he collected a rebound in front.
Point tied it 1-1 at 14:59 with a one-timer from the slot that beat Rask to the far post off a pass from Nikita Kucherov.
Domingue has won nine of 11 starts since taking over for No. 1 goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (fractured left foot) on Nov. 14. Vasilevskiy is a few weeks from returning.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Domingue has taken advantage of the opportunity.
"He played well tonight," Cooper said. "He stood tall for us in the last eight minutes of that second period when we were pretty careless with the puck."
Domingue made a pad save on a breakaway by Pastrnak at 18:07 of the first period and made saves on Krejci and Brad Marchand in the final 31 seconds of the game.
"The save on Pastrnak gave us a huge lift," Cirelli said. "That's one of their best players coming down on a breakaway, he makes the save and that's a huge momentum swing for us."

They said it

"Tonight is a little more disappointing, to be honest with you. We were right there. We have opportunities to make plays to the net and shots get blocked. We had a few passengers and we can't afford that against a No. 1 team like Tampa." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"Cirelli got a taste of it last year and has really taken a step forward this year. [Joseph] is a bit of wild card in a sense because this is his first time in the League. But clearly he's getting a little more acclimated." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper on the contributions from Anthony Cirelli and Mathieu Joseph

Need to know

Krejci moved into a tie with Cam Neely for 10th on the Bruins' points list with 590. … Joseph has three goals in the past two games. … The Bruins have scored two or fewer goals in nine of their past 10 games. … Kucherov has 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in his past 12 games. … Point has 12 goals in his past 12 games. … Pastrnak, who had an assist, has six points (three goals, three assists) in the past five games. … The Bruins sent defenseman Connor Clifton to Providence of the American Hockey League to make room for McAvoy.

What's next

Bruins: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, SN1, NESN, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, ALT, NHL.TV)