Brayden Point scored his NHL-leading 11th game-winning goal of the season and the Tampa Bay Lightning stretched their season-high point streak to eight games with a 3-1 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
In the second period of a 1-all game, Point collected a hard rebound off the end boards, zoomed around behind Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark (28 saves) and slammed home his team-high-tying 42nd goal at 6:50.
The marker was Point’s sixth in his past four games and broke a tie with Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson and Nashville’s Filip Forsberg for the league lead in game-winners.
Nikita Kucherov scored an empty-net goal with 27 seconds left in the third. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (23 saves) earned his 20th career assist on the tally.
Mitchell Chaffee also netted a goal for the Lightning (40-25-7, 87 points), who are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games and 7-0-1 during their point streak.
In his 400th NHL game, Nicholas Paul recorded the primary assist on Chaffee’s marker.
Tampa Bay trade-deadline acquisition Anthony Duclair failed to produce a point for the first time in his eight games since coming over from the San Jose Sharks.
Boston (42-17-15, 99 points) received a goal from Danton Heinen and fell for just the fourth time in regulation in Atlantic Division play (17-4-3).
After feeling out the first 10 minutes of the game, the Lightning had their pressure pay off when Paul backhanded a saucer pass into the slot that Chaffee skated into and flipped past Ullmark. The tally, at 10:06, was Chaffee’s fourth of the season.
With just under five minutes left in the period, Charlie McAvoy skated into the slot and rang a shot off the post, but a strong forecheck by the Bruins put them on the board at 17:11.
Known for his offense, right winger David Pastrnak forced a turnover by defenseman Matt Dumba behind Vasilevskiy. Pavel Zacha then flipped a feed to a wide-open Heinen, who lifted in his 15th goal.
As the frame neared its end, Boston forward Trent Frederic stepped in to fight Tanner Jeannot, but the Lightning forward caught Frederic with a quick uppercut that opened a cut above his left eye, sending the bleeding Bruin to the dressing room.
Steven Stamkos appeared to score off a blocked shot in the third, but Boston won a challenge for offside to take the tally off the board.
–Field Level Media
