Bruins Lose To Lightning 3-2, Remain Winless In Round Robin Play
BOSTON (CBS) --The Boston Bruins came out flat, woke up with a resurgence, but ultimately lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon in Toronto.
The loss drops the Bruins to 0-2-0 in round robin play, ending their bid for a top seed in the Eastern Conference and likely dropping them to the fourth seed. The Lightning improved to 2-0-0, putting them in prime position to take that top seed in the East.
Tyler Johnson scored the go-ahead goal with 1:27 left in the third period, pouncing on a rebound off a Yanni Gourde shot and beating Tuukka Rask. That goal came after the Lightning had relinquished a 2-0 lead.
Rask made 32 saves for Boston. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 Boston shots.
The Bruins fell behind early, when Brayden Point found a loose puck in front of Rask and found daylight between Rask's pads. The puck redirected off Charlie McAvoy and into the net, 7:33 into the first period.
That Tampa lead doubled less than three minutes later, when Alex Killorn used his skate to redirect a point shot from Victor Hedman past Rask.
That goal came just 13 seconds after the Bruins were penalized for a too many men on the ice penalty.
The Bruins finally got on the board late in the second period, when McAvoy uncorked a one-timer from the blue line that found its way past Vasilevskiy.
Torey Krug, who took a five-minute fighting major late in the first period for his tussle with Blake Coleman, picked up the primary assist.
The Bruins tied the game in the opening minutes of the third period, when Zdeno Chara's wrister from the high slot made its way through Vasilevskiy. Chris Wagner banged home the loose puck, which was sitting tantalizingly on the goal line, to make it a 2-2 game with 18:13 left in the third period.
The Bruins will conclude their round robin play on Sunday against the Washington Capitals. After that, they'll be on to the first round of the playoffs.
