But those positive moments were isolated. For much of the night, the Lightning struggled with their game. Specifically, they were not crisp with their puck management. At the same time, the Bruins were sharp with their own puck play. As a result, much of the game's action took place in the Tampa Bay defensive zone. The stats reflect Boston's possession advantage. With under five minutes left in regulation, the Bruins were outshooting the Lighnitng, 37-13. (The Lightning finished the game well, posting five shots over those closing minutes of the third and adding four more in OT). For the game, shot attempts were 81-52 in favor of Boston. Not only did the Bruins dominate possession, they forced Andrei Vasilevskiy to make numerous tough saves. Boston also hit three posts in the contest.
But thanks to Vasilevskiy's performance, the Lightning held the Bruins to just two goals. And on two of their three goals, they made key plays at both ends of the ice. Raddysh's shorthanded tally began with him ending a Boston rush attempt in the Lightning defensive zone. He closed on Taylor Hall as Hall attempted to skate down the left wing. Raddysh checked Hall and successfully dislodged the puck. It came to Sergachev, whose clearing attempt hit off the stick of Mike Reilly and dropped straight down in the neutral zone. Raddysh accelerated to the puck and grabbed it before any Boston player could get to it. Then he skated down the left wing, cut inside on Reilly, faked a forehand, and, when Swayman bit on his first move, moved the puck to his backhand. He then slipped the puck into an open side of the net. After so many close calls in recent weeks, Raddysh finally got rewarded with his first NHL goal.
In overtime, there was a scramble play in front of Swayman deep in the Boston end. All three Lightning players were down low, so when the puck caromed away from the net, Pastrnak collected it and had only open ice in front of him. But Sergachev raced back defensively and got close enough to Pastrnak so that he forced the shot wide of the net. Patrice Bergeron was following the play, so he was caught out of position when Sergachev took the puck and wired it up ice to Stamkos. Stamkos had a two-on-one rush with Ondrej Palat. Just as he did when he had a two-on-one rush and scored the OT winner in Washington on October 16, Stamkos took the shot from the right circle and ripped it home.
The Lightning wrap up the back-to-back on Sunday in Philadelphia and they may be without the services of Erik Cernak, who left this game with an injury. Either way, they know they'll have to play at a higher level than they did for much of this contest.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy - Lightning. 37 saves.
2. Patrice Bergeron - Bruins. 21-5 on face-offs.
3. Steven Stamkos - Lightning. OT winner.
