FINAL: Lightning 3, Bruins 2 (SO) - Bruins fall in shootout after erasing two goal deficit

That was a hard one to take in as the Bruins fall to the Lightning 3-2 in a shootout after rallying froma two goal deficit. 

Linus Ullmark gave up a very soft goal early on to Erik Cernak that sneaked through to make it 1-0. Ullmark made up for it later on a breakaway opportunity by Nikita Kucherov to keep it a one goal game.  I thought that Boston found their game later in the period with good puck movement and time in the Tampa Bay zone. 

The Bruins erased a two goal deficit in the second period when Charlie McAvoy scored :58 after Kucherov scored which cut the deficit in half.

 James Van Riemsdyk tied it up at two later on a delayed penalty call. 

The Bruins improved in the second period and it had the feeling that the next goal would win the game. The game went all the way to a shootout where Tampa Bay won when Brayden Point scored in the third round and David Pastrnak was stopped by Andrei Vasilevsky.

 The Bruins had three power plays tonight but only came away with five shots. The Bruins were too slow and showed no urgency when they had the man advantage. 

The Bruins will be back in action on Thursday night when they host the Seattle Kraken at 7 p.m. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:  

• Boston's power play was weak tonight showing no fight or urgency.
• Bruins still get a point out of it but not a great result during a seven-game homestand. 
• Vasilevsky was amazing tonight, especially in overtime.
• Boston once again got off to a slow start in the beginning of the first period. 

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

3. Charlie McAvoy (one goal)

2. Brayden Point (scored goal in shootout) 

1. Brad Marchand (two assists)  

___________________________

WHO: Lightning (28-20-5) at Bruins (32-11-9)
WHEN: 7 p.m. 
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston. 
TV: NESN
RADIO: 98.5-FM The Sports Hub
LIVE BOX SCORE
ROSTERS

 Grzelcyk –  McAvoy
 Lindholm –  Carlo
 Forbort –  Shattenkirk

 Ullmark
 Swayman

LIGHTNING
 Stamkos -  Point -  Kucherov
 Hagel -  Cirelli -  Paul
 Eyssimont -  Motte -  Sheary
 Jeannot -  Glendening -  Chaffee

 Hedman -  Raddysh
 Fleury -  Cernak
 Lilleberg -  Perbix

 Vasilevskiy
 Johansson

PREGAME NOTES
The Bruins welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to TD Garden in game four of their seven-game homestand with puck drop set for 7 p.m. Brad Marchand  will play in his 1,000th game in his NHL career tonight. “It’s very easy to get complacent in this game and it’s very easy to get comfortable,” Marchand explained. “It’s probably one of my biggest fears in this game and one of the things that drives me the most is when you’re so fortunate to be here and be part of this organization. I’ve had so many incredible players to learn from and one of the things I’ve learned and taken along the way is they don’t take a day for granted," Marchand continued. 

Jim Montgomery liked what he saw from his team in practice on Monday after coming off an embarrassing 3-0 home loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon. "There are things that we want, like our standard of how we compete, the pace of which we want to practice with, and attention to detail,” Montgomery said. “Certain things we want to accomplish within our systems or structure, and I thought we accomplished all of that," Montgomery continued. 

The Bruins will have their hands full tonight facing a Tampa Bay team that beat Boston 5-4 in overtime in Tampa back on November 20th before the Bruins won 7-3 at TD Garden on January 6th. The Lightning have a combination of lethal scorers including Nikita Kucherov who paces the team with 89 points and 33 goals in 52 games. Kucherov has been on the scoresheet in four of his last five games versus the Bruins. Brayden Point is right behind in second on the team with 25 goals and 54 points. Point has recorded nine points over his last 10 games versus Boston. You also can't forget about Steven Stamkos who has 22 goals and 48 points on the season. Stamkos has 10 points over his last 14 games vs the B's. Boston can't afford to get off to a slow start again or else they will find themselves playing catchup most of the game against this firepower offense. Tampa Bay will be without Mikhail Sergachev who is out with a lower-body injury. Tanner Jeannot returns for the Lightning tonight after missing the last 13 games with an upper-body injury.