The Bruins have been struggling to stay strong and capitalize in games recently. On Tuesday, they pulled through to avoid a three-game losing streak when they defeated the Florida Panthers. It was a relieving victory for them as they moved into first on the Atlantic Division standings. Boston went on to play against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday to continue their effort but unfortunately, they took a disappointing 3-1 loss. Danton Heinen had scored the lone goal for the Bruins when he made it a tie game in the first period.
Bruins lineup against the Lightning:
Marchand – Coyle – DeBrusk
Heinen – Zacha – Pastrnak
van Riemsdyk – Geekie – Frederic
Beecher – Boqvist – Brazeau
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Lindholm – Peeke
Wotherspoon – Carlo
Ullmark
Swayman
Lightning lineup against the Bruins:
Duclair – Point – Kucherov
Stamkos – Cirelli – Hagel
Eyssimont – Paul – Chaffee
Jeannot – Glendening – Motte
Hedman – Raddysh
Dumba – Cernak
Lilleberg – Perbix
Vasilevskiy
At 9:54 of the first period, Mitchell Chaffee got it started to put Tampa Bay in front 1-0 with his fourth goal of the season. He chipped in the puck from the low slot after taking a pass from Nicholas Paul when he was behind James van Riemsdyk. Danton Heinen tied it 1-1 with a wrister from the right circle for his 15th goal of the season at 2:49 of the first. Heinen received a pass from Pavel Zacha, who had taken control of a loose puck off the back wall.
Brayden Point broke the tie to put the Lightning back on top 2-1 at 13:10 of the middle frame. He scored a wraparound after taking control of a wide shot off the back boards from Emil Lilleberg. This had been Point’s 42nd goal of the season and the sixth in the past four games.
It seemed as though Steven Stamkos extended the lead for Tampa Bay in the third, however, it was overturned. Nikita Kucherov struck the empty net to retrieve the overturned goal for the 3-1 final with 27 seconds remaining in regulation. This was Kucherov’s 42nd goal of the season, and he now takes the NHL scoring lead with 124 points, just one ahead of Nathan MacKinnon.
David Pastrnak on the Bruins’ 3-1 loss against Tampa Bay: “Tough loss. Obviously, we weren’t at our best and we didn’t deserve to win. I think the outcome is just as it should be,” – “Tough power play, we couldn’t get a goal… It’s too bad because it was a heck of a game by our group yesterday and too bad we couldn’t kind of roll it over today – We have to move on and learn.”
Linus Ullmark on seeing the silver lining after the Bruins’ tough loss: “It’s tough to say. Obviously, it’s hard to see the silver lining as of now when we just got off the game, but I think once all the emotions have kind of settled in and you can have a bit more rational thoughts about what actually went down and how we played – I think it’s going to be easier to see what was good and what was not good.”
Notes:
– Linus Ullmark made a total of 28 saves for Boston, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made a total of 23 saves for Tampa Bay.
– Brad Marchand had two shots on goal and hasn’t scored a goal in the past eight games straight, which leaves him at 399 for his career.
– The Bruins are 4-3-4 on the second half of back-to-backs.
– Nikita Kucherov’s 42 goals this season is a career-high… He scored 41 in the 2018-19 season.
– Brayden Point has recorded 10 goals in the past seven games… Victor Hedman recorded an assist to give him 70 points (12 goals, 58 assists), and he joins Erik Karlsson, Brett Burns, and John Carlson as the only active defensemen in the league with three or more 70-point seasons.
Both Point and Hedman had made their return to the lineup after missing the game on Sunday due to a lower-body injury.
– Erik Cernak became the fourth player in Tampa Bay Lightning history to record 1,000 career hits.
– Nicholas Paul played in his 400th NHL career game.
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