Anthony Cirelli started a two-goal performance with the game-winner during a dominant second period, propelling the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
After the teams traded first-period goals, the Lightning rattled off three straight goals to break a 1-1 tie and held a 20-0 shots on goal advantage during the middle frame.
Darren Raddysh and Nick Paul each registered one goal and one assist, while Victor Hedman and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which broke a three-game skid (0-2-1).
Emil Lilleberg and Yanni Gourde each dished out two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 10 saves in the Lightning net.
Elias Lindholm registered a goal and an assist, and Marat Khusnutdinov also scored in the Bruins’ second consecutive loss.
Boston’s Jeremy Swayman stopped 34 shots.
Paul swayed the game back in Tampa’s favor at 2:13 of the second, becoming the sixth Lightning player to reach the 20-goal plateau this season. Gage Goncalves passed out of traffic to Lilleberg, whose shot deflected off Boston defenseman Andrew Peeke in front and right to Paul to score.
Cirelli gave the Lightning insurance at 3-1 at the 7:22 mark, tipping home Ryan McDonagh’s one-time blast from the high slot in the minute following a power-play chance.
Raddysh made it 4-1 when he took a pass from Lilleberg and unleashed a hard wrist shot from just inside the blue line with 2:52 left in the middle frame.
Just 23 seconds into the third, Khusnutdinov took a shot from high on the right that beat Vasilevskiy through traffic, bringing the Bruins a bit closer with his second goal in as many games.
Hagel (3:29 left) and Cirelli (44.9 seconds left) punctuated the Tampa Bay victory with empty-net goals.
The visitors tallied the opening goal at 2:22 as Hedman was left all alone and slipped to the bottom of the left circle to score the rebound of a Raddysh point shot. Swayman was late to recover and got beat with a wrister past his blocker.
Lindholm tied the game with 4:02 left in the first, finishing a transition rush from between the circles by burying Peeke’s perfect centering pass through two defenders. About a minute later, Vasilevskiy maintained the 1-1 score when he stopped Pavel Zacha off a David Pastrnak feed.
–Field Level Media
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