Tampa Bay Lightning Defeat Bruins 4-1
BOSTON -- The surging Tampa Bay Lightning cruised to their sixth consecutive victory, handling the Boston Bruins 4-1 Sunday night.
The win snapped a tie between the Lightning (36-22-4) and the Bruins (34-23-6) for second place in the Atlantic Division and also moved Tampa Bay to within two points of the first-place Florida Panthers, who lost on Sunday.
The Lightning's top line accounted for all four goals, with right winger Ryan Callahan scoring twice and setting up center Steven Stamkos and left winger Alex Killorn.
Stamkos scored in his sixth game
in a row, beating goaltender Tuukka Rask on a penalty shot to make it 4-1 in the second period. He added an assist, as did Killorn.
Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman had two assists, while goalie Ben Bishop won his fourth straight, making 32 saves.
Callahan, who has five points in the past two games, has five goals in the past seven after scoring one in the previous 41. His line has 20 points since being reunited for the past five games.
The win was Tampa Bay's second in as many tries at TD Garden this season after a 10-game Lightning losing streak in the building.
Defenseman Kevan Miller scored for the Bruins, who fell to 13-16-3 at home. Rask made 26 saves in the opener of Boston's four-game homestand.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead 6:01 into the game when center Joonas Kemppainen won a faceoff and got the puck back to Miller at the right point. Miller's wrist shot found its way through.
Boston left winger Zac Rinaldo went off for hitting center Cedric Paquette in the head with a check. Paquette got up slowly before heading for the dressing room (he returned for the start of the second period). Stralman set up Killorn for the game-tying, power-play goal at 11:19 of the opening period.
Three and a half minutes later, the visitors went ahead when Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid, with the puck at the left point, fell backward, leading to a two-on-none with Killorn and Callahan. Callahan gave it to Killorn and got it right back for the easy tap-in, and it was 2-1.
Callahan, who had four shots on goal in the first period, also came up with a big blocked shot on a Boston power play in the opening 20 minutes. He then scored on a power-play tip-in of a Stamkos blast to make it 3-1 at 8:18 of the second.
An embellishment call against defenseman Zdeno Chara wiped out a potential Bruins power play and led to a four-on-four during which Stamkos stole the puck from defenseman Joe Morrow and went in along on Rask. Left winger Brad Marchand pulled Stamkos down and the penalty shot goal made the Lightning star 2-for-6 for his career on penalty shots, 1-for-3 this season.
