Lightning use shorthanded goals to top Bruins, close gap in Atlantic

BOSTON -- The Tampa Bay Lightning gained ground on the Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division by defeating them 5-3 at TD Garden on Saturday.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves for the second-place Lightning (43-20-5), who won their second game in a row and trail the Bruins by seven points. Tampa Bay is 12 points ahead of the third-place Toronto Maple Leafs.
David Pastrnak scored his NHL-leading 48th goal, and Tuukka Rask made 20 saves for the Bruins (43-14-12), who had won four straight and could have become the first team in the League with 100 points. They have 98.
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Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead by scoring two shorthanded goals on the same penalty.
Anthony Cirelli made it 1-0 at 5:08 on the rush after stealing the puck in the Tampa Bay zone.
Mikhail Sergachev extended the lead at 6:10 with a wrist shot from the high slot after a pass out of the corner by Yanni Gourde.
"They're a really good hockey team," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "You spot them two goals - [we] battled all night to get back into it, we never got the equalizer -- it's just a big hill to climb. Lack of urgency on our top [power-play] group. A little bit uncharacteristic, but it's crept into our game. So this will be good for us, for our power play, to get their attention a little bit."
Cedric Paquette made it 3-0 at 6:50 of the second period with a one-timer from the slot off a pass from behind the net by Zach Bogosian.

Charlie McAvoy scored at 4-on-4 to cut it to 3-1 at 14:50.
Sean Kuraly scored on a rebound at 18:37 to pull Boston within 3-2. The call on the ice was no goal, but it was overturned when the Situation Room determined the puck completely crossed the goal line.
Alex Killorn's power-play goal on a tip-in from the slot at 1:08 of the third period made it 4-2.
"I think it's big," Killorn said, "because we go into the period, they had scored two goals, there were a couple fights, it seems like momentum's kind of going in their favor, they get a power-play goal. To get that at the beginning of the period is huge going forward."

Pastrnak's one-timer from the left point on the power play cut it to 4-3 at 6:37.
Nikita Kucherov scored into an empty net with 1:02 remaining for the 5-3 final.
There were 94 penalty minutes in the game; 48 for Tampa Bay (14 penalties), 46 for Boston (12).
"Obviously we didn't get the two points, but I think the way that everybody played hard and everybody played physical no matter who it was, I think there was a good response [after] going down 3-0 and making it a game," McAvoy said. "And sometimes it doesn't go your way, and that was kind of what happened tonight. But we'll take some positives from it, get back on the horse."

They said it

"I feel like we're getting a little bad blood right now. I think we're starting to stir the pot a little bit, which is fun going into meaningful games down the stretch here. … Boston's the team, you know. What they accomplished last year (reaching the Stanley Cup Final) and what they're accomplishing this year … that's good to start a little rivalry here against a good hockey team." -- Lightning forward Pat Maroon
"I think it's becoming more intense, and it will become more meaningful should we meet again, and it's getting amped up because both teams probably feel physically they're up to the challenge." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on the rivalry with the Lightning

Need to know

Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman did not play after the second period and had 4:36 of ice time. Cooper did not have an update. … Kucherov has 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists) in his past 22 games, with a point in 21 of those games. … Bruins forward Brad Marchand had an assist to extend his point streak to 12 games (five goals, 12 assists), the longest active streak in the NHL. … Pastrnak has a five-game point streak (three goals, three assists). … Bruins defenseman Torey Krug had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (one goal, six assists).

What's next

Lightning: At the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; FS-D, SUN, NHL.TV)
Bruins:At the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, NBCSP, NESN, NHL.TV)