Bruins clinch Stanley Cup Playoff berth

BOSTON-- The Boston Bruins clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in three seasons with a 4-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden on Tuesday.
The Bruins (44-30-6) are tied with the Ottawa Senators for second place in the Atlantic Division. The Senators defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 and have one game in hand. The Toronto Maple Leafs trail the Bruins and Senators by one point after a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.

"Obviously a new feeling for me," Bruins forward David Pastrnak said. "I'm really enjoying it, it's a lot of fun and it's exciting. Now we've got ourselves in a spot we can actually fight for home ice and a good spot in the playoffs. We can play a little more relaxed knowing that we made it and it's a lot of fun."
WATCH: All Lightning vs. Bruins highlights
The Lightning (39-30-10) are five points behind the Maple Leafs for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference with three games remaining.
Tuukka Rask made 28 saves, Pastrnak scored twice, and Drew Stafford and Zdeno Chara scored for the Bruins, who have won six in a row.
Rask set a single-season NHL career high with his eighth shutout and has won his past four starts with three goals allowed during that span. Bruins leading scorer Brad Marchand was given a game misconduct after a spearing major at 19:20 of the first period.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves for the Lightning, who lost in regulation for the first time in seven games (5-1-1).
The Bruins limited the Lightning to two shots on goal when they killed Marchand's five-minute major, which lasted until 4:21 of the second period.

"What hurt was we had a [4:21] power play to start the second period and we did nothing with it," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "And we weren't even really a threat, so instead of being an energy boost for us ... now you don't' have to score on it but you've got to turn the tide of the game and we didn't."
Stafford gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with a backhand from the slot at 5:56. Pastrnak extended the lead to 2-0 at 16:06. Chara scored on a power play at 9:12 of the third to make it 3-0.
Pastrnak scored an empty-net goal with 1:02 remaining for a 4-0 lead.

Goal of the game

During a 4-on-4, Riley Nash passed the puck across the slot to Pastrnak for a one-timer that got past Vasilevskiy.

Save of the game

Vasilevskiy kept it 1-0 with a save on Sean Kuraly's one-timer from the left side of the slot at 10:21 of the second period after a cross-crease pass by Torey Krug.

Highlight of the game

Rask followed up his save on Anton Stralman's long shot with a point-blank save on Luke Witkowski at 7:49 of the second period.

Unsung performance of the game

Bruins forward Dominic Moore played 3:10, the most among Boston forwards, during the five-minute penalty kill. Moore also filled in for Marchand on a line with Patrice Bergeron and David Backes after Marchand was ejected. Moore had one shot on goal and won 4-of-5 faceoffs in 17:31 of ice time.

They said it

"It's a game-changer. If they get momentum there then all of a sudden doubt creeps into your head for a number of different reasons. So we'll just keep it to the simple fact that we've been good on the kill all year, it's come through us in crucial times, and tonight there was no bigger time for us. And I thought we did a real good job, moved people through, mixed up the pairs up front, [defensemen] got our clears, Tuukka made the saves when he had to. But the most part we kept ourselves fresh." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on killing Brad Marchand's five-minute major
"We're not out of it; obviously a tough ladder to climb, obviously need some results to go our way but we're obviously disappointed with the game tonight. But we got to turn around quickly." -- Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman

Need to know

Lightning forward Gabriel Dumont was a late scratch to attend the birth of his second child. The Lightning played with 17 skaters for the second time in four games. ... Rask has 38 shutouts in his NHL career. ... Bergeron was 17-for-17 on faceoffs.

What's next

Lightning: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, TSN4, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the Ottawa Senators on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NESN, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)