Steven Stamkos’ slap shot from the right circle for his team-leading 12th goal of the season at 1:31 of overtime lifted the Tampa Bay Lightning past the host Boston Bruins in a 3-2 victory on Saturday night.
Stamkos entered the Bruins’ zone with a 2-on-1 advantage, but kept the puck himself before winding up and sending it past goalie Jeremy Swayman high to his glove side.
The odd-man rush came moments after Boston star David Pastrnak was gifted a breakaway chance after a rebound, but couldn’t get a shot off as Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev caught up to him near the crease and lifted his stick.
Taylor Raddysh and Ondrej Palat also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded 37 saves for the Lightning, who had dropped two of three but have now won five of their last seven games (5-1-1).
Charlie Coyle and Curtis Lazar each lit the lamp for Boston. Swayman stopped 22 of 25 shots for the Bruins, who have dropped four of seven (3-4-0).
Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy was a game-time scratch with a non-COVID illness. Meanwhile, Bruins star left wing Brad Marchand missed his third straight game while serving a three-game suspension for slew-footing.
Raddysh picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and beat his defender one-on-one into the slot before backhanding the puck around Swayman for a short-handed goal to put Tampa Bay up 1-0 at 14:13 of the opening period.
Palat doubled the Lightning lead 3:36 into the second when his attempted pass from the left circle through the slot deflected in off Bruins left wing Tomas Nosek’s skate.
Coyle put Boston on the board with under four minutes to play in the middle period, finishing off Erik Haula’s no-look backwards pass through the crease from the low left circle.
Lazar tied the game at 2-2 for Boston at 4:44 of the third. The eighth-year forward collected a loose puck in the right circle, skated into the slot and beat Vasilevskiy with a backhander high glove-side.
–Field Level Media