Thus Concludes Boston's Disappointing Stay In The Toronto Bubble As TB Beats Them In 5 Games

 

    You'd be hard-pressed to find a more bizarre stay in the NHL postseason than the one just completed by the Bruins in the Toronto bubble. They weren't ready to go and went 0-3 in round-robin play before beating the Hurricanes in five games then falling in five games to the Lightning (the same story from 2 years ago!) in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Fittingly, the series-clinching victory for Tampa Bay was extra painful for Boston as the Lightning battled them for nearly two full overtime sessions before Victor Hedman sent the B's home to their families and friends with a shot through a Pat Maroon screen at 14:10 in double overtime. The Lightning won 3-2 as they kept their perfect overtime record (5-0) going this postseason while the Bruins (1-2) dropped their second overtime contest of the series (they also lost 4-3 in Game 2). 

    Any season-ending loss is going to hurt for awhile but Boston will be kicking themselves since you could argue that Game 5 was their best performance overall against Tampa Bay. They outshot the Lightning 47-35 and Jaroslav Halak (32 saves) deserved a better fate since he saved his best outing of the playoffs for this bitter defeat. The Black and Gold never led in Game 5 and they needed a clutch goal from David Krejci with 2:33 left in regulation just to send it to overtime in the first place. After scoring six goals in the first two games of the series, Boston's offense mostly disappeared to the tune of four total goals in their last three games. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay scored 19 goals in five games (obviously with a big boost from their 7 in Game 3). 

    After missing Games 2-4 with an injury, the Lightning's second best defenseman Ryan McDonagh returned to action and played 31:50 with six hits and three blocked shots. As it turned out, Tampa didn't even need its great captain Steven Stamkos (out with a core muscle injury all postseason) to get past Boston. Nikita Kucherov also got banged up tonight and only played 9:09 but it still didn't really matter since the Lightning outworked, outsmarted, outhustled and simply outplayed the Bruins for much of Games 2-5. 

    Ondrej Palat scored a goal for a fourth straight game which tied a Lightning franchise record in the playoffs. He tipped in a shot by BU's Kevin Shattenkirk at 4:21 of the second period for a 1-0 Tampa lead. Blake Coleman added the second assist on Palat's fifth goal of the postseason/series. David Pastrnak tied it with a sweet one-timer at 12:38 of the second period. His third goal of the postseason was thanks to a great feed from Krejci with the second helper going to Patrice Bergeron as Andrei Vasilevskiy (45 saves) had no chance to stop the laser that actually hit the camera mounted in the back of his net. 

    Another fortuitous deflection for Tampa-this time from Anthony Cirelli-gave the Lightning a 2-1 advantage at 12:03 of the third period. Hedman had the initial shot and Brayden Point (6-game point streak) notched the second assist on Cirelli's third goal of the postseason. Boston finally got some puck luck of their own to get the tying tally. Zdeno Chara's shot was tipped by a Lightning player right to Krejci who was parked out front for an easy goal. Connor Clifton added the other assist on Krejci's fourth goal of the postseason (and 40th all-time which tied John Bucyk for fifth-most in franchise playoff history). Boston came out on fire in the first overtime (outshooting Tampa Bay 11-7 in the first 20 minutes) but they started to lose steam when Krejci was correctly whistled for tripping halfway through it. They survived that but never really could recover as the Lightning outshot them 7-1 in double overtime before Hedman-who played a game-high 38:25-put the B's out of their misery with more assists for Shattenkirk and Point.

    I'm sure that many lazy Bruins fans and/or media members will put much of the blame for losing this series on Tuukka Rask's slender shoulders. While they certainly would have had a better chance to beat Tampa with him, the Lightning were truthfully the superior club in almost every possible way. As I said before, Boston's offense evaporated as the series went along and every time their defense made a mistake, it felt like Tampa Bay was right there to make them pay. There is no shame to losing to the Lightning-one of the best teams in the NHL by any measure-but this was a rather depressing way to see a Presidents' Trophy winner go out so easily. The B's had such an outstanding regular season and then for whatever reason, the time off really hurt them since they could never find that extra gear when they needed it most. 

    We have no idea when the next Bruins season will begin and likewise, there are many unsettled issues surrounding the team now that they are officially done for 2019-20. Do they re-sign their unrestricted free agents in Torey Krug, Chara or Joakim Nordstrom? What about their young restricted free agents Jake DeBrusk (23) and Matt Grzelcyk (26)? Losing in five games to the Lightning in the second round shows that Boston has to find a way to get younger. Drafting well and developing their own prospects would definitely help in that regard. Oh and it also shines a light on the fact that last season's Stanley Cup Final loss to St. Louis in Game 7 will probably represent the last true run with this same core group of players. That was their golden opportunity to win another Stanley Cup and it only gets harder as the years pass by, they all get older and more worn down from the grind of long NHL careers. 

    

    

    

The Lightning Push The Bruins To The Brink Of Elimination With A Frustrating 3-1 Loss In Game 4

 

    Let's just get this out of the way first: yes Tuukka Rask not being here for his team is a major factor but even with him on the ice, the Lightning would most likely still be in control of this series. After an unexpected day off (thanks to the NHL temporarily pausing the postseason to focus on racial injustice), Tampa Bay resumed its beating of Boston with a 3-1 win in Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead. How dire are things for the Bruins after they lost their third straight game? Well, they have never rallied to win a series when they are down 1-3. In that dire situation, they are 0-23 in best-of-7 series. Conversely, the Lightning are perfect at closing things out when they are up 3-1 in a series since they are 5-0 in that favorable spot. Woof. Game 5 is on Monday night (7, NBCSN). 

    Boston's margin for error is so small when they matchup with Tampa right now so needless to say, allowing the first goal and finding themselves down 3-0 in the second period is basically a guaranteed loss before its even over. It's easy to rip Nick Ritchie (12 penalty minutes including a 5-minute major for a boarding penalty that led to the 3rd goal) and Jaroslav Halak (23 saves but his customary whiff on a routine glove save) since they both had outings that they surely would like to forget but I think that overlooks a sputtering Bruins offense that has managed to score two goals total in Games 3 and 4 combined. Is that bad? Their lone goal today came with 12:56 left in regulation as Jake DeBrusk used his sneaky fast release to throw a wrist shot through Andrei Vasilevskiy's (29 saves, 9th win of the postseason) five-hole.

    Too often, Boston's power play (1-for-4) or 5-on-5 for that matter was overpassing or simply not hitting the net when they had some great scoring chances. Brandon Carlo actually ventured forward for a pair of opportunities that were predictably stuffed by Vasilevskiy-one of the NHL's best goaltenders. Meanwhile, David Pastrnak had a game-high six shots on goal but none of them found the back of the net which is not good enough from one of the NHL's top goal-scorers this season-no matter what injury he might have. Nikita Kucherov (2 assists) is having a nice series which is totally on brand but Tampa has to be thrilled with its secret offensive weapon: Ondrej Palat who has two goals today & four already in the series including his current three-game goal-streak. Also, Victor Hedman (game-high 27:09)-who is no doubt on the short list of best defensemen in the league-has four points (3 goals, assist) in these four games including another tally this afternoon.

    It's hard to pinpoint one main reason for Boston's struggles on defense in this latest setback because all three goals came in separate and annoying ways: awful coverage in front of the net, an easy stop that Halak has to make every time and a crazy deflection that ended up behind him. Ugh. Brayden Point's filthy stickhandling made Torey Krug look like a fool but truthfully, all five Bruins on the ice (plus Halak) were too slow to react as he hit Palat with a one-timer that he put in the upper corner of the net. 1-0 Lightning at 8:59 of the first period. Things only got worse from there for the B's as Palat's second goal came at 12:29 of the second period. It was another one-timer, this time from Anthony Cirelli and Tyler Johnson with Halak's invisible glove hand the real hero on the shot that was from distance. Boston had nearly killed all of Ritchie's five-minute major but Hedman's harmless shot from the point deflected off Par Lindholm's skate and floated over Halak but under the crossbar. 3-0 Tampa at 18:04 of the second period. Goodnight everybody! Tyler Johnson and Kucherov had the helpers on the goal that likely ended the Bruins' life in the Toronto bubble for all intents and purposes. 

       DeBrusk's fourth goal of the postseason came at 7:04 of the third period to cut it to 3-1 Lightning but it was far too late to have any real effect on the final outcome. Boston's two BU alums that grew up in Masschusetts (Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk) had the assists on DeBrusk's smooth finish. The Bruins actually outshot the Lightning 11-6 in the third but that's a tad misleading since Tampa was just trying to escape with their collective health intact. These B's have more than enough pride and professionalism to show up on Monday and put forth another solid effort but frankly, they are cooked. With no Rask, this isn't exactly a fair fight and you can sense the Lightning get more confident with each goal that they score.

    No matter if this series ends in five games, six games or seven, it feels like we're nearing the end of an era for the B's. I'm not really sure how Rask ever shows his face in Boston again let alone plays another game for the Bruins while 43-year-old captain Zdeno Chara seems on the verge of retirement. Last season was awesome up until Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and then this one was great pre-pandemic as they captured the cursed Presidents' Trophy. Since that time, they went 0-3 in the round-robin (after not taking it seriously enough) which pissed away their top seed, they rolled in five games over the still inept Hurricanes and now they are 1-3 vs. Tampa Bay. Which part of that equation looks like an aberration? There are many valuable pieces left on the team but GM Don Sweeney will have some serious alterations to do during the bizarre offseason (Krug will get a serious pay raise either here or elsewhere). Those are all issues for another day though as Tampa Bay (5-0 in Game 5s in a best-of-7 series when leading the series 3-1) gets their first chance to eliminate Boston (7-16 in Game 5s in a best-of-7 series when trailing in the series 1-3) in two nights.

The NHL Needs an Epic Bruins-Lightning Series This Upcoming Postseason In the Worst Way

I could go on all day about the beauty of the NHL playoffs (only about a month away now!) but one of my favorite aspects is that the matchups don't even really matter that much (at least like they do in other sports) to still produce a classic playoff series. Still, if two clubs (most likely division rivals) can enter with built in hatred and animosity, well all the better! The Bruins (43-14-12) and Lightning (43-20-5) finished the regular season series tonight at TD Garden with a thoroughly entertaining 5-3 victory by Tampa Bay. Boston went 1-2-1 against the Lightning in 2019/20 but the previous three contests were all decided by a goal: Tampa won a shootout 4-3 on Oct. 17, Lightning edged the B's 3-2 on Dec. 23 and Boston won 2-1 on Tuesday. These are no doubt about it two of the best teams in the NHL complete with star power up and down their lineups so another meeting in the playoffs (remember the Lightning wiped the Bruins out of the second-round in 5 games 2 years ago) would be nirvana for hockey fans.

An NHL regular season game on March 7 has no business being this thrilling but when you have line brawls and chipiness after seemingly every whistle, you know that Jack Edwards might need a clean up in the NESN booth afterwards. Before things got wild, they were weird as Tampa Bay scored on its first two shots of the game and they both happened to be during the same Bruins power play. The Lightning built up a 3-0 lead before the B's came roaring back with a pair of goals to cut it to 3-2. Harvard's best NHL player in a generation-Alex Killorn-gave Tampa an insurance goal before the top goal-scorer in the league (David Pastrnak, 48!) got on the scoresheet. Nikita Kucherov has points in 21 of his last 22 games (his only scoreless outing was Tuesday's loss vs. Boston) so he fittingly got some retribution with an empty-netter that clinched it. Meanwhile, the two teams combined for 94 penalty minutes which included two official fights and two misconducts not to mention countless scrums, donnybrooks and even a line brawl in the second period. Say it with me folks, old time hockey! Are you not entertained?

Tuukka Rask (20 saves, 25-8-6) is the frontrunner for the Vezina Trophy this season (it would be his second after capturing it in 2013-14) as the top goalie in the NHL but understandably, many Bruins fans will never fully feel comfortable with him until he wins a Stanley Cup of his own. He was Tim Thomas' backup in 2011 and never entered during that magical run. I hate to even bring it up but allowing two goals on the first two shots by the Lightning definitely sported the odor of Game 7 vs. St. Louis in June when a couple early goals by the Blues crippled the Bruins right away and they never recovered. Keep in mind that Steven Stamkos (core muscle surgery) is expected to miss six to eight weeks for Tampa Bay and their All-World defenseman Victor Hedman only played 4:36 tonight (7 shifts) after picking up an injury of his own. In other words, as great as those guys are, the Lightning clearly aren't a one or two-man team. Brandon Carlo (upper-body injury, cough concussion) was also a key player missing for the Bruins after getting hurt on Thursday at Florida (34-26-8) in Boston's 2-1 win.

Anthony Cirelli (who sounds like someone that plays in your Wednesday night men's league at Hockeytown in Saugus, MA) made it 1-0 Tampa at 5:08. His 16th goal of the season was unassisted and it came just six seconds into Boston's first power play of the tilt. If that wasn't bad enough, the Lightning doubled their lead 1:02 after that with another shorthanded tally. Mikhail Sergachev (forced into a game-high 28:20 of ice time with Hedman out) cranked in a one-timer from Yanni Gourde for a stunning 2-0 lead for Tampa and his 10th goal of the season. Boston hadn't allowed two shorthanded goals in the same game in over a year (Dec. 23, 2018 vs. Carolina) and you have to go back to Dec. 4, 1966 (vs. Toronto) when they allowed a pair of shorties on the same power play. Yeesh. Chris Wagner and Barclay Goodrow (a lost lax bro?) tried to fight later in the first period but the refs wouldn't allow it. Luckily after they went to the penalty box for unsportstmanlike conduct, they proceeded to come out and get into a bout six seconds after the penalty had expired. It wasn't exactly Wilder-Fury I but the Garden crowd certainly ate it up like it was a boxing classic. The scoreboard almost seemed like a joke at the end of the frame as the B's trailed 2-0 yet had outshot the Lightning 14-5. Spoiler alert, kids: that's really hard to do!

When Cedric Paquette put Tampa Bay ahead 6:50 into the second period with a wide open roof job from the door step, you had to wonder if this would be like Boston's 9-3 humbling defeat in Vancouver two weeks ago. Thankfully for the paying customers (and the Bruins fans around the globe), this was not a repeat performance of that dreadful no-show to end an otherwise great road trip. Nope, this evening the Black and Gold decided to fight back both literally (with fists) and where it counts the most (with goals). After a rough season offensively, Charlie McAvoy has played like the franchise defenseman that Boston hopes that he can fully turn into once the ageless Zdeno Chara finally retires. Boston University can be directly thanked for the first Bruins goal since it came from McAvoy (4-on-4), assisted by Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk (all BU alums). McAvoy's fifth goal of the season cut it to 3-1 and it came at 14:50 of the second period. The next few minutes were truly bizarre as the puck seemed to sneak by Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (35 saves, 35-13-3) but play continued for a few minutes well until things devolved into a full out battle royale 90s WWF style. After a review, Sean Kuraly was credited with the goal (his 6th of the season) from McAvoy and Ondrej Kase (his 1st point as a Bruin) at 18:37. Those last five-plus minutes of the second period after McAvoy's goal were scintillating: hockey (or sports in general) doesn't get much better than that in terms of incredible plays, physicality or crazy twists and turns.

Killorn's career-high 26th goal of the season at 1:08 of the third period was a bit of a wet fart to the proceedings. He tipped in Sergachev's shot from the point with Brayden Point fittingly grabbing the other helper. Somehow though like a horror movie villain, the Bruins wouldn't die as Pasta's blast of his own on the power play trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to 4-3 at 6:37. Torey Krug (40th assist! 5-game point streak) and Brad Marchand (NHL-best 13-game point streak) had the assists on the goal that put Pastrnak one goal ahead of Washington's Alex Ovechkin. Once again with all the momentum on their side, the B's felt destined to tie it and they couldn't have asked for a better chance to do that but Vasilevskiy stopped Pastrnak on a breakaway. Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy waited a bit to pull Rask but it was a moot point when Kucherov stole the puck in the Bruins' end and put in his team-best 33rd goal of the season with 1:02 left in regulation.

Just recapping that memorable meeting, I feel like I need a hot shower and message to recover so I can only imagine how the players and coaches feel. As you would expect, the Bruins won't practice tomorrow and they will be back at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, MA on Monday morning before hitting the road to play the hottest team in the league-the Flyers (41-20-7)-on Tuesday (7, NBCSN). Philadelphia has won nine straight games to pull into a virtual deadlock with the sputtering Capitals (4-4-2 in their last 10 games) for first-place in the Metropolitan Division. Philly's rapid rise has to be one of the most unexpected developments of this season, especially considering how stacked the Metropolitan is with the Islanders (35-23-9) and Blue Jackets (32-21-15) currently occupying the top two Wild Card spots in the East. Furthermore, the Hurricanes (36-25-5) and Rangers (36-28-4) are breathing down their necks as well. It's a relatively quiet week for the B's as they go to lifeless Buffalo (29-31-8)-losers of their last six games (Free Eichel!) on Friday (7, NESN) then they have a back-to-back with Toronto (35-25-9) coming here on Saturday night (7, NESN).

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Tampa Bay Jumps Out to Early 2-0 Lead & Never Look Back En Route to an Easy 4-1 Win In Game 3

To state the obvious: the Lightning are not the Maple Leafs. Nope, not one bit. After Boston managed to come away with a 6-2 victory in Game 1 on Saturday at Tampa Bay, the Lightning bounced back with a 4-2 win at Amalie Arena on Monday. As the series shifted to TD Garden, Tampa continued to be the aggressor as they scored twice in the first 3:19 of Game 3 to skate away with a 4-1 win and 2-1 series lead. Like an older brother to a younger brother, the Lightning completely smothered the Bruins in almost every facet of the contest that mattered: earning four more power plays (5-1) and recording eight more shots on goal (37-29).

This sets up what is basically a must-win for the B's on Friday (7, NBCSN) since it's hard to fathom that they could beat the Lightning three games in a row after what we've seen out of Tampa Bay in the past two tilts. Of course, it's hard to beat anybody in the playoffs when you combine for three goals in two games. The Tuukka Rask (33 saves) haters should take a night off since this wasn't his fault at all, in fact it could have been much worse since he made a bunch of saves when the outcome was still to be decided. Tampa's goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy hasn't looked exactly picturesque in this series, but it's tough to argue with his results lately.

It was the first day of 2018 that felt like summer with temperatures around New England well into the 80s so you could excuse some of the Bruins' fans for showing up a few minutes late. The Lightning didn't take pity on us poor untanned Northerners as they scored not one but two goals before Boston could blink. Boston rookie defenseman Matt Grzelcyk made a mistake on a puck flipped into his defensive zone and Tyler Johnson was able to feed Ondrej Palat for an easy goal at 1:47. Palat's third of the postseason was also assisted by Anton Stralman. Giving up the first goal is one thing but another right on top of it is unforgivable, especially on home ice. Palat bagged another at 3:19 by deftly tipping in a shot from Victor Hedman. The ghost of Dan Girardi had his first assist of the playoffs on Palat's third goal in the last two games (2 periods to be exact).

The only time that Boston was really in it was for a brief few minutes late in the first period: they converted their only power play opportunity in only 29 seconds as Patrice Bergeron banged in a sweet one-handed pass from David Pastrnak. Brad Marchand had the second assist on Bergeron's fourth goal of the postseason which cut Tampa Bay's lead to 2-1. The Bruins defense let Rask and the rest of the club down on the third goal as rookie Anthony Cirelli was able to take not one (whiffed), not two (saved by Rask) but three shots that understandably were too much to survive in such a fast sequence. Cirelli's first career playoff goal was assisted by fellow rookie Yanni Gourde and Ryan McDonagh.

You waited for the Black and Gold to make a push in the second but they didn't. David Backes fought Cedric Paquette after Tampa Bay's resident wannabe tough guy jumped Backes who had had boarded Girardi. Paquette ended up with a 10-minute misconduct but that hardly mattered since he is an irrelevant buffoon. The scary part for the Bruins is that the Lightning two best players (and 2 of the top forwards in the NHL)-Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos-have been really quiet. Stamkos got an empty-netter with 41.2 seconds left in regulation, only his second goal of the postseason and amazingly, the first point of the series for Tampa's beastly top line.

To win Game 4 and get back in this series, Boston has to shoot way better than they did in Game 3. Tonight they had a whopping 19 shots blocked and if that wasn't bad enough, they missed the net with another 17 shots. This evening, Tommy Wingels was inserted on the fourth line for Tim Schaller but he didn't do anything notable (-1 in 11:24 with 1 shot on goal, 5 hits and 1 blocked shot). Since the Bruins have scored only three goals in the past two games (with just 1 from a forward), I would give rookie Ryan Donato another chance because putting the puck in the net is his specialty. Adam McQuaid wasn't hurt but only skated 9:46 in Game 3 so perhaps he could be scratched for Nick Holden, not that he would likely change the dynamics of this matchup.

As you can imagine, the numbers don't look great for the B's heading into Game 4: they are 8-23 all-time in best-of-seven series when they trail a series 2-1 and they are 16-15 in Game 4s when trailing a series 2-1. The Lightning are 5-3 all-time in best-of-seven series when they lead a series 2-1 but they are 3-5 in Game 4s when leading a series 2-1. The simple remedy for the Bruins appears to be a fast start in Game 4: put some actual pressure on the Lightning and make them play from behind while the Garden goes bananas. Boston's fans wanted something to cheer about tonight (with Pedro Martinez and Bobby Orr in the house) but the B's hardly gave them anything to truly appreciate and savor.

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Say Hello to the 1st Place Team in the Atlantic Division & Eastern Conference: Your Boston Bruins

In the biggest game of the (regular) season thus far, the Bruins (48-17-11) continued their recent dominance of the Lightning (51-22-4) both this season (3-0) and in the past few years (7-1-0 in their last 8). Boston beat Tampa Bay 4-2 in a playoff-like thrilling contest at TD Garden that was complete with the requisite "We Want the Cup" chants and also included multiple fights with just about the most unlikely members of the B's that you can imagine. The regulation win pushed Boston ahead of Tampa Bay for the first time since October 18 and the Bruins aren't content with only leading the Atlantic Division, they are also at the top of the Eastern Conference (with the 2nd most points in the NHL behind only Nashville).

Eight of Boston's last nine contests had been on the road so the Garden fans were extra psyched to see their proud and resilient club that continues to pile up positive results no matter what key players are missing from the lineup. With only six games remaining in the dress rehearsal, the playoffs are understandably coming into focus as the best teams jostle for position while many others fight tooth and nail simply to get in. Tuukka Rask (26 saves, 33-11) has submitted better individual performances in 2017-18 but I'm sure that for many Bruins fans this was their favorite outing by him. For a guy that is often criticized for being too passive or not a leader, he sure didn't look like that as he repeatedly punched Lightning forward Cory Conacher in the second period. Conacher was sitting on Brandon Carlo in Rask's net so Boston's emotional goaltender took exception to that and started whaling on him. If that wasn't enough, David Pastrnak (1 goal, 1 assist, 1 Gordie Howe hat trick!) got into his first career NHL fight in the third period vs. Tampa Bay's veteran defenseman Dan Girardi (who had hit Patrice Bergeron earlier in that shift which apparently enraged Pasta enough to drop the gloves).

The versatility of this Bruins team is what should make them so dangerous come playoff time: they can employ any style that they need to use on a given night. This particular matchup called for grit with a dash of skill. Boston dominated in the first period (outshooting Tampa Bay 17-6) but it took them until the final minute to strike, luckily they did that twice in 32 seconds. Tim Schaller went to the net and was credited for his 12th goal of the season after Tommy Wingels' shot was saved by Andrei Vasilevskiy (26 saves, 42-16) but a Lightning defenseman appeared to knock the puck in his own net (what we'd term an own goal in soccer lingo). Pastrnak made it 2-0 with a deflected goal on the power play. His 32nd goal of the season was assisted by Torey Krug and Patrice Bergeron.

Tampa Bay's No. 2 ranked power play did its job when Brian Gionta was called for boarding early in the second period. J.T. Miller tapped in a sweet pass from Nikita Kucherov (2nd in the NHL in scoring) at 1:14. Miller's 21st goal of the season was also assisted by Victor Hedman, in case you didn't notice the Lightning are blessed with an abundance of talent at every position on the ice. Similar to Boston in the first period, Tampa Bay skated circles around them in the second (outshooting them 11-3). Still, the Black and Gold stayed in front and never gave up their slim lead. Harvard's Alex Killorn thought he tied the game early in the third but it was wiped out right away since Anthony Cirelli had parked himself in Boston's crease with no plans to move out anytime soon.

The Bruins increased their lead back to two goals as Bergeron finished a beautiful passing sequence with Krug and Marchand at 11:59 for his 28th goal of the season. The Lightning still kept pushing less than two minutes later as Hedman's shot somehow squeezed under Rask's arm before he could close it tight to his body. The hulking defenseman's 15th goal of the season was assisted by Yanni Gourde and Girardi. Tampa Bay pulled Vasilevskiy late in regulation but Boston wrapped it up with an empty-net goal from Marchand at 19:05 (his 34th goal of the season). Bergeron and Pastrnak were each credited with helpers on Marchand's goal and truthfully, either of them could have bagged it themselves but they chose to do the unselfish thing and pass it to a more open linemate.

It's a busy weekend coming up for the B's, who knows if they'll have time to eat a ton of candy and hunt for Easter eggs with their kids. Boston hosts Florida (39-29-8) on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) before traveling to Philadelphia (39-25-14) on Sunday afternoon (12:30, NBC), don't forget to watch that game before you stuff your face with some delicious food. The Panthers are three points behind the Devils (40-28-9) for the second Wild Card spot in the East while Philadelphia is one point ahead of Columbus (43-29-5) for third-place in the Metropolitan Division. Needless to say, both opponents will be desperate for two points but the Bruins have plenty to play for as well. David Backes returned tonight after missing the past five games with that gruesome cut on his leg. Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy and Jake DeBrusk all skated at practice today and B's head coach Bruce Cassidy sounded hopeful that they could all return in the next few days. Rick Nash's mysterious upper-body injury is much more scary but it's tough to build up too many negative feelings right now about this team that continues to roll no matter what obstacle is placed in front of them.

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Hell Freezes Over (Again): Jimmy Hayes Scores His 1st Goal for the Bruins In 2016-17

Coming in on a three-game losing streak (outscored 9-4 in the process) and with captain Zdeno Chara gleefully cheering from the press box (more on that later), the Bruins (12-10-0) desperately needed a victory on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden vs. the Lightning (13-9-1). Surprisingly enough they got it in pretty easy fashion, 4-1, with even Jimmy Hayes finding the back of the net for the home team. Boston opened up a scoreless affair with a trio of goals in the second period and capped it off with one more in the third period before Tampa Bay avoided the shutout with a Victor Hedman goal in garbage time (that deflected in off a Bruins skate).

Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (30 saves, 12-4-0) has been superb all season but the funny part is this marked the fourth time already that he's lost a shutout with less than five minutes left in regulation (11/1 at Florida, 11/17 at Minnesota, 11/19 vs. Winnipeg). He's been by far Boston's best player and he's reclaimed his spot as one of the top goalies in the NHL but it just goes to show you how thin the margin is for the upper echelon players like himself.

Things weren't nearly as enjoyable for Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop (26 saves, 7-8-0) who fell to 4-5-3 in his career against Boston. Dominic Moore (read my feature about him in tomorrow's edition of Metro Boston!) continued to rack up goals at a crazy pace (at least for him). Colin Miller (who made his return for the 1st time in 2 weeks) chipped a puck into Tampa Bay's zone that Moore chopped out of mid-air for his sixth goal of the season at 2:24 of the second period. Ryan Spooner also assisted on Moore's goal which tied him with Brad Marchand for second on the team in goals and matched his entire total from all of last season with the Rangers.

At weekend afternoon contests, you don't expect to see much action but this game was a pleasant surprise in that regard. These teams clearly don't like each other as you could see late in the first period when lightweights Torey Krug and Nikita Kucherov fought each other. There were also plenty of skirmishes after the whistle all game long. Additionally, the Bruins potted a few pretty goals which for them is a big accomplishment in many ways. David Backes scored on a rare double deflection from Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug at 12:30 of the second period. It was Backes' fifth goal of the season and it gave Boston a 2-0 lead.

You know that it was the Bruins' day when Hayes scored his first goal of the season at 17:33 of the second for a 3-0 Boston advantage. Not only was it his first point of the season (in 20 games!) but dating back to last season, his first goal in 36 games. Seriously, when you are a 6-foot-5 forward in the NHL how is that remotely possible? Anywho, Chara happened to be next to me in the press box at the time (waiting to go downstairs to the locker room between periods) and like when a little kid that stinks at sports does something positive, Chara started clapping like a Little League dad or soccer mom when Jimmy got the proverbial monkey off his back (props to him for celebrating by throwing said monkey to the rafters).

Even for this limited offensive group, David Pastrnak just can't stop scoring goals. He threw the puck at the net in the third period and it deflected off a Lightning player past Bishop. Krug and Marchand assisted on Pastrnak's team-leading 13th goal of the season (2nd most in the NHL behind Sidney Crosby). Pasta has 10 points (9 goals, 1 assist) in his last 10 games. Is that good?

As weeks go in the NHL, this upcoming one doesn't look too daunting on paper for the Black and Gold: they are at the Flyers (9-10-3) on Tuesday (7:30, NESN, they host the Hurricanes (8-8-4) on Thursday (7, NESN) and go to Buffalo (7-9-5) next Saturday afternoon (1, NESN)-their second of 13 matinees this season. They have been a good road team so far this season (7-5-0) and whatever shape that they're in health-wise (John-Michael Liles left in the 1st period today with what looked like a concussion), I still expect them to beat the dregs of the Eastern Conference like those three blah opponents.

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Lightning Help Bruins Hit Rock Bottom For 2011-12

The Boston Bruins have been handing out two-goal leads to start games like they were candy on Halloween. Tonight, they thought why not take it a step further as they were down 3-0 at 4:31 and 4-0 at 15:38 of the first period.

By rolling 6-1, the Tampa Bay Lightning (32-30-7) helped push the B's (40-26-03) over the cliff at the Tampa Bay Times Forum and they didn't forget to pour gasoline over the tire fire that is the Black and gold.

It's the first time since October, the month that shall not be spoken about, that Boston has lost three games in a row. The worst part was that this prideful team simply laid down from beginning to end, against an average opponent.

Marty Turco (8 saves) got the start but he was yanked after allowing three goals, one of which was completely preventable and his fault. Tim Thomas (3 saves) came in for almost two periods but he wasn't much better as he allowed two goals. Turco returned in the third period and he had the honor of allowing Steven Stamkos' 50th goal of the season (second time he's done that in his career, 51 in '09-'10).

Tom Pyatt (8th of the season) kicked off the scoring (no pun intended) by knocking the puck off his skate. It was called no-goal on the ice but somehow the league officials in Toronto thought it was a goal so it was reversed. Things only got worse as Turco fumbled a puck right to Nate Thompson (9th of the season) then former BC star Ryan Shannon (4th of the season) skated in on a breakaway.

Tampa Bay scored its fourth goal-the most Boston has allowed in a period this season-when Victor Hedman (4th of the season) put one over Thomas' shoulder. The only semblance of pride exhibited by the B's in that frame was from Shawn Thornton, as usual, who beat the hell out of Mike Commodore.

Did I mention that Boston had two shots (really) in the first? Stamkos' received a gift from Thomas in the form of his 49th goal in the second period. Stamkos flipped it on net, with no power and Thomas fall over the line and couldn't stop it.

Jordan Caron (7th of the season) prevented the shutout for Dustin Tokarski (33 saves) when he tipped in a shot by Johnny Boychuk in the third period.

The Lightning come to TD Garden in two weeks, maybe by then the Bruins will have woken up. Either that or they'll no longer be in first in the Northeast Division so they'll be on the fringe of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Boston ends this torturous trip (0-2 so far, 3 goals scored, 11 goals allowed) on Thursday against the Panthers. The Bruins are 2-1 against Florida so far this season although they haven't played them in nearly two months.

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