GOLD STAR: A lot of times in the recent past it’s been other Tampa Bay Lightning players doing the damage for them against the Bruins, but on Monday night it was Steve Stamkos really getting it done throughout the game. It was Stamkos that scored on a pair of scorched one-timers in the first period and then had the breakaway in the third period that led to a Victor Hedman rebound goal that kick-started three unanswered goals for Tampa Bay. In all Stamkos finished with two goals, four points, a plus-3 rating, five shots on net, eight shot attempts, two hits and a blocked shot in 22:35 of action-packed ice time. Stamkos was a dominant force for the Lightning in the big game.
BLACK EYE: Charlie McAvoy on ice for all three goals in the third period as the Bruins cough up a two-goal lead entering the final 20 minutes, and instead lose a 5-4 game to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It all started with McAvoy making a poor decision on the Stamkos breakaway that allowed Victor Hedman to cruise in for the goal off the end boards, and it got worse from there. It sure looked like McAvoy and some of the other Bruins players were cheating a bit too much offensively, and not paying enough attention to the defensive details with a high-powered Tampa Bay team ready to pounce on them. McAvoy finished with a minus-2 and zero points in over 25 minutes of ice time in the loss to Tampa Bay.
TURNING POINT: As Bruce Cassidy pointed out, it was a sequence of events leading up to Tampa’s third goal that kick-started their comeback in the third period. Brandon Carlo missed wide with a shot while caught up ice and then Charlie McAvoy was caught in-between as the lone defender with Steve Stamkos and Victor Hedman breaking in for an odd-man rush. When it was all over the Lightning scored a pretty easy goal and had all of the momentum with the B’s flailing around while getting outshot 9-5 in the closing third period. When it was all over, they had blown a two-goal lead in the third and gave the Lightning all kinds of confidence it would be the same result again this season if the two teams meet again in the postseason.
HONORABLE MENTION: Four shots on net, eight shot attempts and two takeaways for Brad Marchand through two periods to go along with his two goals scored tonight. He’s brought his “A” game to a big game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and he was able to cancel out Steve Stamkos’ two first period goals with a couple of scored using his own goal-scoring prowess. It sure looks like No. 63 is also going to reach the 100 point mark (he’s currently sitting at 94 points) for the season for the first time in his career, and that would be quite an accomplishment for the Bruins agitator.
BY THE NUMBERS: 2 – the number of losses to Tampa at Amalie Arena this season where the Bruins have fallen apart in the third period. That isn’t a great trend as both teams head toward their respective postseason pathways.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We had a chance to put the game away. We're off net with our chance. You've got to hustle back & our lone D back there made a poor decision. He's got to buy time for people to recover. That [Hedman goal] gave them life" –Bruce Cassidy, on the first goal allowed in the third period that kick-started Tampa’s three unanswered goals to take a 5-4 win over Boston.
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