And that finally appears to be the case for the Bruins, who raced out to a 5-0 lead on Thursday against the Lightning before posting a nail-biting 5-4 win on the road, taking over eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Struggling right-winger Michael Ryder registered two goals and an assist in the first period alone, while Milan Lucic lit the lamp twice, registering his first multigoal game of the season. Bruins assists leader Zdeno Chara upped his consecutive-game scoring streak to four with a helper on Lucic's second goal.
Tampa Bay scored four unanswered goals over the final 40 minutes, spearheaded by Martin St. Louis, who scored twice for the Lightning in the final four minutes of the second period. Steve Downie tallied the third Lightning goal with 8:51 left in the final frame and Downie hit again with just over three minutes left to make things interesting. But that was as close as Tampa Bay would get.
Goaltender Tuukka Rask, starting for the fifth straight game in the place of struggling veteran Tim Thomas, finished with 31 saves on 35 shots. Antero Niittymaki, on the other hand, was pulled after allowing four goals in the first and finished with 17 saves on 21 shots. Mike Smith came on in relief for the Lightning and saved 14 of the 15 Boston shots he faced.
Bruins 5, Lightning 4
St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Fla.
Feb. 11, 2010
Headliner: One big reason for the Bruins' lack of goal scoring throughout much of this season? The fact that Michael Ryder seems to be in the midst of a down year. The winger, who registered 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points in 2008-09, is projected to finish this season with just 18 goals and 13 assists for 31 points, which would match the lowest total of his career.
But if Thursday night is any indication, Ryder is on the upswing. In the first period, he registered two goals — one on a power play — plus an assist, marking just his second multigoal game of the year. If Ryder's line — featuring David Krejci and Blake Wheeler — continues to produce like this, the playoffs may no longer be a long shot for these Bruins.
Ryder now has nine goals in 10 career games against Antero Niittymaki.
Grinder: The biggest bright spot for the Lightning was the play of Martin St. Louis, who registered two goals in three minutes during the second period. The first came on a backhander with 3:50 to play in the frame, and the second came with just under a minute left, 22 seconds into a power play stemming from a very debatable David Krejci holding call.
Tampa Bay's 20-year-old phenom Steven Stamkos assisted on each of the Lightning's first three goals.
Weak Link: Lightning goaltender Antero Niittymaki entered Thursday's game with a 7-0-1 record in his last eight starts, but his hot streak stopped very abruptly when he allowed a Miroslav Satan goal less than five minutes into the first. And it only got worse — just over 10 minutes later, he had landed his team in a 4-0 hole and was pulled in favor of Mike Smith.
It was Niittymaki's worst start since he allowed five goals in a loss to the Rangers on Jan. 19.
Key Moment: The Bruins were certainly in good shape as soon as Satan put them on the board 4:24 into the first, but later in the period, when Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder combined for three goals in the span of six minutes, their confidence became imperturbable. After staking 2-0 leads in each of their last four games only to see them evaporate by the final buzzer, a 4-0 first-period lead finally allowed the Bruins the breathing room they needed to be confident in their game going forward. And the B's were certainly relieved to have a five-goal cushion after the Lightning managed to come nearly all the way back in the third.
Up Next: Saturday's game at Florida will afford the B's the chance to head into the Olympic break riding a four-game win streak, which will do wonders to put their 10-game losing streak even further in the rear-view mirror. And the Panthers, mired in a five-game skid of their own, could be exactly what Boston needs to head into the break on a high note.
Stephen Weiss leads the Panthers in goals (20) and points (47), while goaltender Tomas Vokoun — who you may remember from this epic event — boasts a 19-20-9 record and a 2.35 goals against average.
