The Bruins gain some traction.
A three-point night from David Pastrnak and a locked-in night from Jeremy Swayman helped propel the Boston Bruins to a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night at the TD Garden.
Parker Wotherspoon also netted his first NHL goal in the win while Swayman made 43 saves It was the Bruins’ second straight win and the second consecutive game where they gave up more than 40 shots.
The Bruins quickly got on the board in the first period as Matt Poitras got to work right away after being called up from Providence. He found Trent Frederic at the far post to open the scoring early.
Wotherspoon extended the Bruins’ lead as he pinched down and threw a wrist shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Bruins continued to build on their lead shortly into the second period.
After returning to even strength off an unsuccessful power play, Pastrnak connected with Marchand to make it 3-0 Bruins.
The Bruins took a commanding 4-0 lead just over six minutes into the middle frame with a Pastrnak blast. But Conor Geekie answered back for the Lightning less than three m minutes later as he redirected Victor Hedman’s shot. Hedman netted his own with a late-period tally with 18 seconds left in the second to make it a 4-2 game.
The Lightning put pressure on the Bruins in the third period, outshooting them 16-6. As the Bruins took a penalty with 3:33 left in regulation, the Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy — only for Andrew Peeke and Pavel Zacha to both score shorthanded, empty-net goals. Final score: 6-2 Bruins.
Here are the game’s highlights!
First period:
Off the rush and entering the offensive zone on a 2-on-1, Matt Poitras dished a pass to Trent Frederic crashing the net where he slid the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 4:24 of the first period. 1-0 Bruins.
David Pastrnak found Parker Wotherspoon pinching down into the left-wing circle where he put a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy’s stick at 9:30 of the first period. 2-0 Bruins.
Second period:
Pastrnak gave a short pass to Brad Marchand who went top-shelf over Vasilevskiy’s glove after releasing a wrist shot from the left-wing circle at 1:13 of the second period. 3-0 Bruins.
Pastrnak blasted a one-timer under the crossbar off a feed from Pavel Zacha who had picked up the loose puck from Andrew Peeke’s initial shot at 6:05 of the second period. 4-0 Bruins.
Conor Geekie tipped-in a long shot from Victor Hedman at 8:50 of the second period. 4-1 game.
Nikita Kucherov found Hedman pinching down to the left-wing circle where he put a snap shot past Swayman’s blocker and the post at 19:42 of the second period. 4-2 game.
Game notes
- Interim head coach Joe Sacco said he felt the Bruins played well in front of Swayman for about the first 13 minutes of the game and how they responded as the Lightning began to push. He liked how his team was able to get momentum back against a quality opponent and how they are continuing to find consistency in their game.
- Poitras reentered the lineup tonight and energized the team with his speed to carry the puck down the ice on the Bruins’ first goal. Sacco had this to say about Poitras’ game: “He came up and he obviously used his speed and his offensive ability on that first goal,” Sacco said. “It’s about, again, with a young player like Matty, it’s finding that consistency in his game, knowing who you’re playing against…just making sure you’re managing that part of your game properly. But I like the energy he brought to the game tonight for us,”
- The game had some firsts. Michael Callahan made his NHL debut tonight as the Bruins’ blue line faces some injuries. He logged 14:11 TOI. Andrew Peeke netted his first goal as a Bruin with his shorthanded, empty-net goal.
- Wotherspoon also scored his first NHL goal in his 76th career game. “Had to wait a long time for that moment,” Wotherspoon said. “It was a big day. My mom was in the crowd too tonight so it makes it a little bigger.”
- Sacco did not have an update on Cole Koepke who was hit by Darren Raddysh during the game. No penalty was called on the play. Postgame, Sacco said his initial reaction was there was contact to the head.
- The Bruins will see the Ottawa Senators on the road on Saturday at 3 p.m.