Stamkos scores two goals for Lightning in victory against Bruins

TAMPA -- Steven Stamkos scored two goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Brayden Point scored, and Nikita Kucherov had two assists for the Lightning (16-11-3), who have won two games in a row and three of their past four. It's the first time Tampa Bay has won consecutive games since a three-game winning streak Nov. 21-25.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves in the victory.
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Lightning highlights]
"I think we're working really hard and paying attention to detail," Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli said. "I think it starts in practice, we've been practicing pretty hard and trying to get better. It's been showing the last couple of games."
Patrice Bergeron and John Moore scored for the Bruins (20-7-6), who are 0-4-1 in their past five. Tuukka Rask made 28 saves.
"I think we know the kind of team we are," Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy. "We know we're a special group. These things happen, what we're going through right now. Trying to find a recipe to get back in the win column. It's just a handful of games in December, so a little bit of perspective goes along way, but at the same time, we want to win."

With the Bruins coming off a 3-2 loss at the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, the Lightning said they wanted to play physical early, and they had 19 hits in the first period.
"We knew if we could get on them early, they're a great team and they played a big, physical, heavy game in Washington last night," Stamkos said. "If anything, we had the fresh legs and we took advantage. It doesn't always work out that way, but tonight we were able to play our game, and it worked."
The plan started to work in the second period, when Stamkos tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 12:35.
Point put the Lightning ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 4:07 of the third. He scored with a shot from the slot off a backhand pass from below the goal line by Kucherov, whose one-timer from the right face-off circle was swatted by Rask at 3:52.
"Can't put it on the forwards or on the [defensemen], [the Lightning] just started making plays," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Penalty kill just didn't have an answer tonight, all night. They scored twice and probably should've scored another."
Stamkos made it 3-1 at 15:13 with his sixth goal in four games.

Moore scored his first goal of the season at 16:45 to make it 3-2. It was his fourth game back following offseason shoulder surgery.
"I was happy to kind of give the guys a chance there to get back into the game," Moore said. "A fortunate bounce that I able to put home."
Bergeron gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 4:26 of the first period when he jammed in a wraparound pass from Brad Marchand.

They said it

"I don't sense too much frustration. It [stinks] to lose. We all hate to lose here. But we've played decent. You're not going to win them all. Obviously, you're not going to go 80-3 or whatever. Obviously, you don't want to lose too many games in a row, you want to put a stop to it, but it's been a tough road trip. We've got one more game left, hopefully we can finish it off on a high note and then go home." -- Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask on their 0-4-1 stretch
"We have actually been playing pretty well here over the last month. Part of our issue is just our attention to detail on our own end. But when you get in these close ones, we got the lead and extended it, which we needed to because we gave up one late … but to be able to weather that and close out games just builds confidence with the group." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Marchand has four assists during a three-game point streak. ... Bergeron has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past five games. He has missed nine of 14 games since Nov. 16 with a lower-body injury ... Kucherov ended a three-game point drought, his longest of the season. ... Lightning forward Cedric Paquette had a game-high seven hits.

What's next

Bruins: At the Florida Panthers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, NESN, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SUN, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)