A flurry of third period goals turned a goaltending duel between Jonas Johansson and Jeremy Swayman into a breathtaking final as the Lightning came back twice in the third period to force overtime before Brandon Hagel scored 1:19 into the extra frame for the 5-4 victory. Johansson finished with 23 saves on 27 shots while Swayman turned aside 41 of 46 shots.
Tanner Jeannot, Nick Paul, Austin Watson, Steven Stamkos, and Hagel were responsible for the Lightning goals as Pavel Zacha, David Pastrnak, Johnny Beecher, and Charlie Coyle scored for the Bruins. Boston lost for just the fourth time this season, with only one of those losses coming in overtime.
Stamkos and Hagel and multi-point nights while Nikita Kucherov recorded another point at home despite missing a portion of the second period with a lower-body injury.
First Period
The Lightning needed a strong start against the Bruins. If they came out with the effort and mistakes they had against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon, Boston would make them pay. So it was heartening to see that it was Tampa Bay that dictated the early run of play. They did not allow the Bruins easy entries into the zone, and a tough forecheck forced Boston to spend more time in their own zone then they would like.
Against a goaltender as hot as Jeremy Swayman, trying to score pretty goals isn’t a successful game plan, and it was a mucky goal that opened things up. Mikey Eyssimont made a nice pass through the neutral zone to Tyler Motte. Motte fought off Charlie McAvoy through the slot and was able to nudge the puck on net that Swayman failed to cover. Tanner Jeannot was the first to the loose disc and he chipped it up into the back of the net.
From there the game really opened up. Shortly after the goal, Pavel Zacha got behind the Lightning defense, but his shot clanged off the post. Both teams traded chances, and hits, with McAvoy stepping up and into Jeannot.
The Bruins were able to tie it. Mikhail Sergachev’s clearing attempt up the boards was picked off by Brad Marchand who quickly centered it to David Pastrnak in front of the net. The entire building, including Johansson waited for his shot, but he deftly dished it to Zacha for the easy goal. Sometimes you tip your hat to the skill level of the other team.
A power play for the Lightning started off with a canon from Stamkos that stretched Swayman out, but there wasn’t much after that, in fact, Johansson had to be sharp to make some saves. Late in the period, Swayman matched his counterpart as he stoned Brandon Hagel on a dangerous chance shorthanded.
The Lightning generated 19 shots on goal off of 24 shot attempts, the most shots on a goal for a period so far this season. A pretty solid rate for a team that tends to miss the net almost as many times as they hit it. While it made for entertaining chances, the combined 17 scoring chances likely had the coaching staff reaching for the Tums during intermission.
Second Period
Some of the feistiness that manifested in the first period intensified in the second period as the two teams combined for six called penalties (and a few missed ones). So it’s not a surprise that it was a power play goal that was the difference.
The Lightning had a golden opportunity early in the period as they had a long 5-on-3 power play with both McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm in the box. Swayman made a couple of early saves on Stamkos and Kucherov, but after that, they seemed to be a little tentative and couldn’t convert. Sometimes it’s the missed opportunities that come back to haunt a team, and they needed a big save by Johnasson on Danton Heinen to avoid a deflating post-power play goal against.
Things settled into a bit of a grind after that, with a little playoff feel to it. Pastrnak barked at the officials after Nick Perbix made a nice backcheck (that miiiiight have been a slash around the hands) after the dangerous forward got behind the Lightning defense. It seemed that the man they call “Pasta” was off his game as he felt the Lightning were getting away with some penalties.
Swayman was forced to make a tough glove save as Hagel had his own breakaway on the four-on-four. When the play rushed to the opposite end, it was Johansson that blockered away a dangerous chance from Lindholm.
With Tanner Jeannot and Brandon Carlo in the box for roughing calls (the result of a little Eyssimont chaos) Pastrnak took a bad roughing call to put the Lightning on a four-on-three power play for the second time in the period. Unfortunately they didn’t have Kucherov on the ice as he suffered some sort of non-contact leg injury along the boards earlier in the period and didn’t return.
Even without their lucky talisman, the Lightning converted with the extra skater (the five-on-four portion) as Sergachev wristed a quick shot towards the net that Nick Paul tipped into the net for his fifth power play goal of the season.
Third Period
For the first seven minutes of the third period, the Tampa Bay Lightning did what they used to do in third periods with the lead. They pushed the play as far away from their own net as possible and forced the Bruins to drag the puck through a cluttered neutral zone.
Then, all of that work was undone in a span of 81 seconds as they left Pastrnak uncovered in the slot and he rifled one home. Then, with his teammates already out of the zone, Nick Perbix turned the puck over at his own blueline. He made a valiant effort to try and disrupt John Beecher’s shot, but the puck still found it’s way under Johansson’s pads. Just like that, a 2-1 lead was a 3-2 deficit.
Credit where credit is due though. They didn’t cave. In fact, they tied it up with a goal from the least likely player to score one on the ice – Austin Watson. Anthony Cirelli did his best Wayne Gretzky impersonation as he patiently waited for an opportunity from behind the Bruins’ net. Watson was open for a second and was able to get the shot off before getting knocked to the ice.
So they brought it back to level. Unfortunately, with less than four minutes to go, another in a season-long string of behind-the-net turnovers came back to haunt them. Sergachev tried to one-hand the puck out of trouble, but it didn’t work. Then the Bruins won the 50/50 battle behind the net. Then Charlie Coyle was left unmarked in front of the net and he was able to beat Johansson to reestablish the one-goal lead.
That sucked the air out of the building. However, Boston continued their march to the penalty box (they were shorthanded six times) and a late six-on-four gave the Lightning some life. Boston survived the power play, but with time bleeding away Victor Hedman made a tremendous keep at the blue line and then fed it to Kucherov. A backhand pass ticked off a skate and right to Steven Stamkos who blasted it off the blocker and in to tie it with 5 seconds to go. Jubilation ensued!
In overtime the Lightning did something they hadn’t done all year – won a face-off. That led them to maintaining possession and eventually a timely line-change allowed Brandon Hagel to slip behind the defense and beat Swayman down low. An actual overtime victory for the Bolts!
The Lines
The Goals
Tanner Jeannot (Tyler Motte, Mikey Eyssimont) 1-0 Lightning
Nick Paul (Mikhail Sergachev, Steven Stamkos) Power Play, 2-1 Lightning
David Pastrnak (Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy) 2-2
John Beecher (Danton Heinan, Brandon Carlo) 3-2 Bruins
Austin Watson (Anthony Cirelli, Nick Perbix) 3-3
Charlie Coyle (James Van Riemsdyk) 4-3 Bruins
Steven Stamkos (Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel) Six-on-Five, 4-4
