Boston Bruins: 4 Takeaways from Their 3-2 Win over the Tampa Bay Lightning

The Boston Bruins made sure that two special teams could play at the game of startling trend-shattering Saturday afternoon. After tripping over their own skates into a 2-0 pothole, courtesy of two opposing power-play goals, they sandwiched a five-on-five strike with two conversions of their own to surmount the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2.

Those who are still waiting for a consistent, 60-minute throttle in the black and gold would be left unfulfilled for yet another day. But the Bruins got away with it, yet again, for a sixth straight victory when a sprinkling of pregame and in-game tweaks kicked in.

Between 13 total power plays, one instance of four-on-four and the Lightning playing with an extra attacker in the last 99 seconds, the contesting clubs combined for only 34:27 of five-on-five.

The two most climactic odd-man arrangements were a pair of double-minor power plays when the score was deadlocked, 2-2. Tampa whiffed on its chance late in the middle frame whereas Boston tuned the mesh via Brad Marchand for the eventual decider with 2:16 to spare in regulation.

Outside of the permeation of penalties and power plays, here are a few of the other key developments in Saturday’s seesaw skate-fest at TD Garden.

Awake In The Afternoon?

Saturday was the second afternoon home game on the Bruins’ 2013 schedule and the second time they have authorized the first goal in that scenario. The other was a Jan. 21 encounter with the Winnipeg Jets.

Their inadequate mental preparation was underscored in the form of four unanswered, unfavorable scoresheet entries as the Bolts converted two straight power plays, needing only two attempted shots to do so.

Milan Lucic―whistled for interference at 5:11 of the first period―and Andrew Ference―cited for tripping at the 7:46 mark―combined to serve only 73 seconds of their sentences. Steven Stamkos and Alexander Killorn each terminated those segments early to sculpt Tampa’s 2-0 lead that held up through the first intermission.

Khudobin Hangs On

Thrust back into extramural action for the first time in 15 days, goaltender Anton Khudobin blinked on two of the first four Tampa shots he faced, thus digging the deficit of 2-0 with 8:38 gone.

He would face his fifth shot on the Bruins’ third straight penalty kill, repelling Killorn’s bid for a second strike before another protracted period of inactivity kicked in.

Khudobin was not tested for any of the last 8:58 of the opening frame, but was ready to answer when another short-handed segment carried over the second period. With Lucic off for boarding, the Boston backup suddenly started summoning whistles to slow down any Tampa onslaught.

After forcing two stoppages on three unanswered shots, two on the power play and one at full strength, Khudobin watched as his skating mates turned the tide. Within 10 seconds of that second whistle, the Bruins drew a man advantage that amounted to their icebreaker via Tyler Seguin at 3:22.

Paille, Peverley Paired Up, Perk Up

Seguin’s conversion was on Boston’s second power play. The first was drawn at 13:12 of the opening frame by Rich Peverley, at the expense of Keith Aulie, while he was grinding with Chris Kelly and Daniel Paille.

In a series of tweaks to the bottom six of the lineup, Shawn Thornton was scratched, while his usual pivot, Gregory Campbell, was paired with Jay Pandolfo and Chris Bourque. In turn, Paille was elevated to supplant Bourque on the third line, opposite Kelly and Peverley.

As it happened, the newfangled troika was the lone set of forwards on either bench to make any additions to their plus/minus rating. Within 77 seconds of Seguin’s goal, Paille garnered the secondary assist on a Peverley equalizer for what would be the only even-strength tally of the day.

With that, Peverley ended a five-game production drought, his longest such lull since late in the 2010-11 regular season. Paille, meanwhile, tallied his fourth point in the last six games and would also nab one of Boston’s two takeaways.

Marchand Makes It Count

At the second intermission, the top goal-getter, Marchand, had nothing but a pair of giveaways on his extended stat line—not so much as a wide or blocked shot attempt.

That continued until he went on a power-play rush with Patrice Bergeron to bury his fourth game-clincher in the last six games. It was the third-year winger’s only shot of any type Saturday, but it generated two other critical entries on his daily transcript.

In turn, Marchand has now bested the goaltender at hand in 11 of 34 registered stabs for a still-otherworldly 32.4 percent connectivity rate.