Hall scores twice, Bruins top Lightning for 13th consecutive home win

BOSTON -- Taylor Hall scored two goals for the Boston Bruins, who extended their season-opening home winning streak to 13 games with a 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden .

"We're learning that every team is going to give us their best," Hall said. "We're not controlling play quite as easily as we have in parts of the year, but we stick with it and we just kind of keep playing. I think we're showing that no matter who we're playing, it's really about us and how we play."

Brad Marchand scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves for Boston (19-3-0). Trent Frederic had an assist in his first game since Nov. 21 because of a shoulder injury.
"I thought both teams were really good defensively," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "Sticks, physicality, room and space, there wasn't a lot of it out there. It was [like] a playoff game. They played a real smart road game, but I liked the way we stuck with it and defended hard and found ways to score."
Steven Stamkos recorded his 999th NHL point with a goal for Tampa Bay (13-8-1). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves.
"Probably a little bit of a positive is, [it was] a better showing maybe than we did at home (5-3 loss to Boston on Nov. 21)," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "But in the end, you get it down, it's a tie game in the third period, and you come in here, you don't want to take penalties against Boston. [We] can't kill off one penalty, shame on us."

Hall gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 1:07 of the first period, deflecting Brandon Carlo's shot from the point through Vasilevskiy's legs.
"It felt like I wasn't trying to stick handle or anything like that," Carlo said. "There's times where that takes time and just simplifying things, and just go over into the middle and letting it go with a wrist shot. Last year, a lot of times we had to do slap shots, so it was nice to be able to get one through."
Stamkos tied it 1-1 on the power play at 18:20 of the second, scoring on a one-timer from the left face-off circle to finish a quick passing sequence by Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.
"I think we created a lot of chances down low," Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said. "We had it behind them, they were doing everything right."

Hall made it 2-1 at 2:49 of the third. Nick Foligno wrapped the puck behind the net to draw Vasilevskiy out of position before feeding Hall in front for an open shot on the power play.
Corey Perry had a chance to tie it on a 2-on-1 rush at 13:08 of the third, but Swayman slid across the crease and stretched his pad to preserve Boston's lead.
"It was just a 2-on-1, right?" Swayman said. "You trust your [defenseman is] going to stop that pass, or you play it as if it was a 2-on-0 in a way, where you're expecting a pass across. I wanted to have good depth coming back, and where I had a chance to stop the initial shot or the pass across. So that's just how you play it. Luckily, I was able to stop it."
Montgomery said of Swayman: "That's the best he's looked this year, to me. Very calm in the crease tonight, which is a great sign. Anytime you're behind the bench and you think your goalie's calm in the crease, it's usually because he's being patient on his feet and he's seeing the puck well."

Marchand scored an empty-net goal with 41 seconds left for the 3-1 final.
"I thought for the most part we stuck with them the whole game," Tampa Bay forward Ross Colton said. "We improved in a lot of areas. Obviously, not the outcome that we wanted, but they're a good team. They're the best team in the League for a reason. Obviously, we're frustrated, but we can build up."
NOTES: Stamkos scored his seventh power-play goal of the season. Only Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (eight each) have more. Tampa Bay's 24 power-play goals are second to Boston (25) for the most in the NHL. … The Bruins are 20-0-0 on home ice since April 16, becoming the fifth team in NHL history to win 20 consecutive home games (regular season and playoffs). The others are the 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers (24), the 2011-12 Detroit Red Wings (23), the 1984-85 Flyers (20) and the 1929-30 Bruins (20). … The Bruins are 13-0-0 when scoring first this season, the only NHL team without a loss.