Florida has not been kind to the Bruins.
After dropping a 5-0 decision to the Panthers on Tuesday, Boston wrapped up its Sunshine State road trip with a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at Amalie Arena.
The Bruins actually got on the board first, with David Pastrnak scoring just over two minutes into the game. But from there, Brayden Point, Matias Joseph and Anthony Cirelli all scored to give the league-leading Lightning a win. David Krejci scored with less than two minutes to play, but it was too little too late.
Tuukka Rask made 27 saves for the Bruins, while Lightning netminder Louis Domingue turned away 33 shots.
The Bruins fall to 14-10-4 with the loss, while the Lightning climb to 22-7-1.
Here’s how it all went down:
ONE FOR ONE
It appeared one night of getting shut out was enough for the Bruins, as they quickly potted the first goal.
Just over two minutes into the game, Colby Cave threw a shot on net that Domingue was able to stop, but not control. Pastrnak, who was on the doorstep, kicked and collected the puck and danced around Domingue, burying it at the 2:04 mark.
With just over five minutes to go in the period, the Bruins learned firsthand how gifted of a scorer Point is.
Charlie McAvoy slipped while trying to clear the puck to safety, and Tyler Johnson got it right near the post. After he struggled to finish, the puck slid over to Nikita Kucherov, who backhanded it over to Point. The center one-timed his 21st goal of the season right past Rask.
DEADLOCKED SECOND
Neither side could get on the board in the middle period, but the Bruins had the edge. Even though they couldn’t execute on the frame’s lone power play opportunity, the Bruins outshot Tampa 12-6. They also logged 10:57 attacking zone time, while the Lightning managed just 5:35.
BOLTS TAKE CONTROL
Poor play by Brandon Carlo with the puck on his stick resulted in the Lightning taking the advantage.
Carlo gave the puck away in the neutral zone, with Dan Girardi hitting Alex Killorn with a pass as he entered the offensive zone. Killorn quickly fed a nice feed through Torey Krug’s legs that found Joseph in the slot, and Joseph easily finished to put Tampa up 2-1 at 2:40.
The Bruins seemed to catch a break moments later, as Domingue inadvertently launched a puck out of play for a delay of game. But right after the B’s went on the power play, Marchand had a shot blocked by Steven Stamkos, and Stamkos swatted the puck away. Pastrnak was unable to corral it, instead deflecting it to Cirelli. That resulted in a breakaway, which finished with Cirelli deking Rask to put the Bolts up a pair at 4:03.
Boston never registered a shot on goal during the advantage.
With hope seemingly lost and the Bruins’ net empty, Boston got one back. Krejci ripped a missile from the point that got past Domingue, cutting the lead to one at 18:15.
The B’s tried to create a few more chances with the net empty once more in the final minute but were unable to cash in.
UP NEXT
The Bruins will return home for a Saturday evening tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.
