It's been written in these pages before, but it's worth saying again: if the hockey gods were kind, they would grant fans a Stanley Cup playoffs matchup between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning at some point this spring.
This game had everything. It was emotionally charged from start to finish and ended with the Bruins earning a 4-2 victory and leapfrogging the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.
"It was an emotional game," said Tuukka Rask. "Even I got into it. But hey, two good hockey teams battling for points and it was a playoff game. It was fun."
Everything else you need to know from the Bruins' win in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis.
HEADLINES
Top dogs: The Lightning had owned first place in the division since Oct. 19. Now it belongs to the Bruins. In fact, Boston has played well against Tampa the last two seasons and with Thursday's victory, the Bruins are 7-1-0 in the last eight games. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after the team's morning skate that it wasn't thinking about first place. Well, I call bogus on that. The Bruins have been playing-style hockey consistently for nearly a month and slowly closing the gap on the Lightning until finally taking over the top spot tonight.
Drop 'em: With 8:44 remaining in the second period and the Bruins leading 2-1, a scramble ensued in front of Rask when the Lightning's Cory Conacher and the Boston goalie started to exchange punches. Andrei Vasilevskiy went the length of the ice but the referee grabbed the Tampa goalie before he could engage with Rask. Seeing that type of fire from Rask is a good sign with the playoffs approaching. Haven't seen that much emotion from him since the epic loss to the Canadiens during the Winter Classic. After Thursday's win, Rask said he wasn't happy with a play earlier in the game when a Tampa player fell on his knee, so he felt it necessary to respond the way he did with Conacher.
"I felt like if they were pushing our guys into me then I felt like I had to do something," Rask said. "Last thing you want to do is get hurt on some stupid play like that."
NOTHING BUT RESPECT FOR MY GOALIE TUUKKA RASK pic.twitter.com/fy8NHofjwg
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) March 30, 2018
Pastrnak says not on my future captain you don’t pic.twitter.com/YgPtJKyCvW
— Jeremy Perrigo (@jeremyperrigo) March 30, 2018