Bruins Wrap: Three-Goal Third Period Powers Lightning Over Boston 5-4

The streak ends at four.

The Boston Bruins had a two-goal lead in the third period but squandered the advantage when the Tampa Bay Lightning netted three unanswered goals to complete the comeback and win 5-4 at Amalie Arena on Monday night.

Brad Marchand (twice), Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo scored for Boston, while Steven Stamkos (twice), Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli accounted for the Lightning’s tallies.

Tuukka Rask stopped 23 shots, while Andrei Vasilevskiy turned away 13.

With the loss, the Bruins slipped to 46-21-9, while the Lightning climbed to 59-14-4.

Here’s how it all went down:

STAMKOS GETS 40 (PLUS ONE)
The opening 20 minutes saw a lot of action and resulted in three goals.

It was the Lightning who got on the board quickly in the first with a bomb from Stamkos. Ryan Callahan passed the puck cross-ice to a wide-open Stamkos who ripped the one-timer from the left faceoff circle past Rask with 13:18 left.

The B’s capitalized just over a minute later when they went on the power play after David Pastrnak drew a hooking call. Pastrnak got the puck over to Marchand who one-timed it off the bar and over the goal line to tie things at 1-1.

But it was Stamkos (again) who gave Tampa Bay a one-goal edge when he was left wide open (again) and hammered home a one-timer (again) from the left faceoff circle.

Boston went back on the power play with 2:15 left in the first when J.T. Miller was whistled for hooking and found itself on a 5-on-3 with 1:28 remaining after a tripping call on Alex Killorn was called. The B’s couldn’t capitalize with the two-man advantage and time expired in the first.

The Lightning went into the locker room with a 2-1 lead and outshot the Bruins 9-4. Boston also lost a defenseman in the first after John Moore went down the tunnel when he took a hit from behind from Adam Erne. He did not return to the game.

COYLE GETS FIRST AS BRUIN
After failing to convert on the power play, the B’s continued to fight from behind and Coyle finally was rewarded with his first goal with the Black and Gold when he found twine halfway through the second.

David Backes forced a turnover and got the puck to Coyle and he netted the puck past Vasilevskiy with a sweet backhand move.

The Bruins got their first lead of the night with 6:19 left in the second when Carlo found the back of the net for the first time in 44 games. David Krejci found the defenseman racing down the slot and Carlo finished it off with a wrist shot to give the B’s a 3-2 advantage.

But Boston didn’t stop there and upped its lead to two goals when Marchand once again found twine on a wild goal. Pastrnak fed his linemate the puck before Marchand fired a shot on Vasilevskiy that went straight up in the air. It ended up hitting the netminder’s skate before crossing the goal line.

Miller nearly brought the game within one, but was denied by both (!) goal posts to keep the Lightning down by two.

Connor Clifton, who had a huge hit on Ondrej Palat in the first period, leveled another Tampa Bay skater in Mathieu Joseph.

The B’s entered the second intermission with a 4-2 lead, despite getting outshot 19-12.

BOLTS COMPLETE COMEBACK
Tampa Bay brought the game within a goal in the first five minutes of the third period.

Stamkos looked as if he was going to secure the hat trick on a breakaway but was denied by Rask. Hedman cashed in on the rebound, though, to make it 4-3 in favor of the Bruins.

Boston killed off a Pastrnak double-minor to keep its lead at one. After returning to full strength, the Lightning tied it with just under seven minutes left in the game. Vasilevskiy made a kick save on Pastrnak’s one-timer before the league-leading scorer Kucherov sniped one by Rask on the far side to tie everything 4-4.

The Black and Gold were forced to kill off a Charlie McAvoy hooking penalty in the final 2:58 of the game. Rask made a stellar glove save on Kucherov early in the kill, but even after a successful kill, the Lightning found a way to beat Rask.

Cirelli slapped the one-timer from the slot just as the power play expired for the 5-4 lead to put the nail in the coffin and complete the comeback.

UP NEXT
The Bruins return home Wednesday for a matchup against the New York Rangers. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

This Bruins Wrap is presented by Plainridge Park Casino.