Shorthanded Bruins Top Conference-Leading Lightning In 3-0 Road Shutout Win
The Bruins shocked the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 3-0 road shutout win at Amalie Arena on Saturday. David Pastrnak, David Backes, and Riley Nash scored in the victory, with Torey Krug assisting on all three.
Backes had to leave the game in the first period after a scary-looking injury. The skate blade of the Lightning’s Yanni Gourde cut Backes’ leg above his knee in a collision at the Tampa net. Backes couldn’t return after needing several stitches.
Despite once again losing Backes for the balance of the game – on top of playing without Zdeno Chara, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, and Patrice Bergeron – the Bruins controlled much of the action against Tampa and found yet another way to win. Don Sweeney’s preaching for depth at the trade deadline just continues to be validated.
Highlights
Pastrnak opened the scoring early in the first period when he streaked past the entire Lightning team to take a feed from Krug, put it on his backhand and tucked it around Andrei Vasilevskiy. Riley Nash and Tommy Wingels got the play started by fishing the puck out of a battle along the boards.
Later in the first period on a power play, Krug fired it down low and the puck bounced directly back at the net right to Backes, who buried his chance to make it 2-0 Bruins.
Riley Nash gave the B’s a commanding 3-0 lead when he crashed the net on another power play in the second period. Krug threw the puck on goal and both Nashes, Riley and Rick, closed in on the puck and Riley was able to slap it home.
Tuukka Rask turned aside all 23 Lightning shots in the win. He preserved the shutout late in the third with a pair of saves on Steven Stamkos:
The Bruins (45-17-8, 98 points) are now just two points behind the Lightning (48-19-4) in the Atlantic Division standings with a game in hand. They’ll be back in Boston on Monday when they take on the Blue Jackets at TD Garden.
