BOSTON — The Bruins have given the defending Stanley Cup championships quite a hard time this season.
Boston hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden, and thanks to a last-minute hat trick from David Pastrnak, they achieved a 3-2 comeback victory to jump ahead of the Lightning in the standings, improving to 40-19-5 on the season.
Despite playing from behind, Boston dominated the Lightning throughout. They outshot the visitors 39-24 — highlighted by a 17-6 shot advantage in the second period — and claimed 57% of faceoffs.
“To beat a great team like Tampa is a confidence booster, and I think at the same time we deserved to win today,” Pastrnak said.
The victory is the second for the Bruins against Tampa Bay in three meetings so far this season. After dropping the first matchup, 3-2 in overtime, Boston raced out to a dominant 5-2 win in January.
But the Bruins aren’t getting ahead of themselves.
“This is a two-time defending Stanley Cup champion,” Cassidy said. We’re excited we won and played well. But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves either here. We know who Tampa Bay is. They know who they are, and the road runs through them eventually.”
There is just one meeting remaining in the season series, scheduled for April 8 in Tampa Bay. Of course, this very well could be a postseason matchup down the line.
Cassidy did acknowledge that a pair of dominant wins in the regular season could serve as important motivation in that seemingly inevitable postseason matchup, too.
“This is good,” Cassidy said. “It’s good for the guys in the room to know that if we play a certain way, we have a chance to beat them and can outplay them in certain areas. That’s the positive of that and you should be confident when you beat a really good team. I’m not taking that away from our group.”
Here are other notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Lightning game:
— Despite a dominant win, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. The Bruins were 0-for-5 on the power play against the Lightning, bringing them to just 2-for-15 on the advantage over the past four games.
— Not to be lost in all the Pastrnak hat trick buzz is the player who made it possible. Erik Haula was credited with assists on all three Bruins goals.
“When Erik’s skating, that’s when he’s at his most effective. And between (linemates Pastrnak and Taylor Hall), you have to skate to keep up but you also have to skate to reload if plays don’t work out,” Cassidy said. “I think he’s at his best when he’s skating. Guys go through stretches where they’re feeling it. He’s feeling it.”
— Hampus Lindholm made his Bruins debut after he was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks over the weekend. Lindholm was credited with an assist on Pastrnak’s first goal.
“I think he was actually a better puck mover in small areas than I anticipated,” Cassidy said. “Thinking more about the size, the mobility, the ability to close plays, get his shot through on the offensive blue line. He made a lot of small area plays on the breakout that’s going to benefit this hockey club.”
— With Lindholm in the lineup for his Boston debut, the Bruins were forced to scratch one defenseman. This time around, it was Mike Reilly, though Cassidy warned before the game that may not be the plan for every game.
“Mike’s been fine, as well,” Cassidy said. “It’s not an easy decision in terms of merit, to be honest with you. It’s a good problem to have in that regard. It’s tough for Mike, but it’s one game. We’re going to get everyone involved and go from there, but that’s how it’s going to be tonight.”
— The Bruins are back in action Saturday as they host the New York Islanders for a matinee, with puck drop scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET.
