@jayRecher
After two periods where they were clearly outplayed, the Lightning came out with a purpose for the 3rd.
Unfortunately, that effort wasn't enough as the Bolts fell to the visiting Boston Bruins 2-1 on Tuesday night at Amalie Arena.
Tampa Bay came close to scoring the tying goal in the final period, but the closest they would come would be a shot from Erik Cernak that clanked off the iron.
Boston controlled a large portion of play through the first period and with just under a minute left, finally found the back of the net.
Bruins defenseman Torey Krug threw a shot on net from the half-wall and it went off of a streaking Brad Marchand and in to give Boston a 1-0 lead with just 54.7 seconds left in the opening stanza.
The visitors went right back to work to start the second period, outshooting the Lightning 21-9 at one point.
The Bolts thought they picked up the equalizer at the 5:21 mark when Yanni Gourde blasted one over the shoulder of Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask, but after a short review, it was ruled that Tyler Johnson was just barely offside and the call on the ice was overturned.
Just under five minutes later, the Bruins doubled their lead.
Following an errant back-pass from Johnson, Jake DeBrusk avoided a diving Zach Bogosian and scored on Andrei Vasilevskiy on the breakaway to put Boston up 2-0.
Mitchell Stephens pounced on a loose puck in-front and smacked it past Rask to get the Lightning on the board at the 17:28 mark of the second, but that was the only offense Tampa Bay could muster.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Boston - Marchand - (Krug, Pastrnak) - 19:05
2nd Period
- Boston - DeBrusk - (Unassisted) - 10:06
- Tampa Bay - Stephens - (Johnson, Goodrow) - 17:28
3rd Period
NONE
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Shattenkirk - (Hooking) - 2:35
- Boston - Carlo - (Tripping) - 14:09
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Gourde - (Tripping) - 5:46
- Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Slashing) - 12:54
- Boston - MAJOR - Nordstrom - (Fighting) - 19:56
- Tampa Bay - MAJOR - Gourde - (Fighting) - 19:56
3rd Period
NONE
What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Thursday night as they welcome the Montreal Canadiens to Amalie Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm with the pregame show starting at 6:00pm on our sister station NewsRadio WFLA.
PHOTO : Getty Images