Thursday night’s showdown between the Bruins and Lightning was everything that we all expected. And then some.
- Two of the top teams in the Atlantic Division — nay, the entire NHL — trading shots through 65 minutes of hockey.
- Of that 65 minutes — 44:44 of it featuring Boston and Tampa Bay stuck in either a 0-0 draw or some other form of a deadlocked score.
After a power-play tally from
David Pastrnak
with 3:05 left in regulation forced overtime, both clubs combined for eight shots on goal over an entertaining five minutes of extra hockey — with both
Tuukka Rask
and
Andrei Vasilevskiy
needing to bail out their respective clubs with two points still up for grabs.
Steven Stamkos’ strike in the fourth round of the shootout was the final determinant in a 4-3 victory for the Bolts, but even in defeat, Thursday night more than lived up to the billing — and provided a preview into what could be a thoroughly entertaining playoff series come the spring.
Of course,
Bruce Cassidy
would have rather preferred a by-the-book, ho-hum victory with two points in hand than the nail-biting showdown that transpired on the TD Garden ice.
"Well, we win the game, right, tonight, if we get secondary scoring from anybody," Cassidy said. "I think we’re stating the obvious saying that. Having said that, our record is pretty good without it, but I don’t think it’s sustainable. "
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron
Brad Marchand
David Krejci
1.
Brett Ritchie
2.
Torey Krug
3.
Zdeno Chara
4.
Joakim Nordstrom
Jake DeBrusk
Charlie McAvoy
Sean Kuraly
Karson Kuhlman
Charlie Coyle
Danton Heinen
Chris Wagner
"Power play is going well right now," Pastrnak said. "But I think we should focus on 5v5 — get a little bit more to the net and funnel more pucks. Get our offense creating from the shot and recover the rebound and that's when our skills can take over as a team."
“As time moves on, guys start doubting themselves a little bit, more and more," Krug said. "We’ve got to find a way to break through, and once we do — I think the floodgates will open. It’s just about finding our confidence, our touch and when you think you’re working hard, maybe you’ve just got to work a little bit harder. A lot of times, guys just think, '
I’m doing the extra work, I’m putting in the time,’
but I think you can do a little bit more.”
Anders Bjork