Recap: Three-goal third period lifts Bruins to a 5-3 win over Tampa

The Bruins kicked off their mini Florida trip in style on Monday night, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 lead before settling for a 5-3 final in Tampa.

The B’s scored three times in the middle period, with nine different skaters factoring in those three goals (three different scorers, six different assisters...assistants?).

The win was the Bruins’ seventh in a row.

It didn’t start off great for the B’s, as Tampa ran the table for much of the early part of the first period before Nick Paul cashed in on a chance from the slot to make it 1-0 Tampa.

David Krejci would answer for the Bruins seven minutes later, when in very un-Krejci fashion he relied on power over skill to blow one past Andrei Vasilevskiy. 1-1 game.

Krejci’s goal was the first of five in a row that went to the Bruins.

Nick Foligno got the next one, a power play goal five minutes into the second period.

31 seconds later, Charlie Coyle’s goal was initially waved off by the on-ice officials, but a review called it a good goal to make it 3-1 Bruins.

With just under five minutes left in the second, Brad Marchand scored the night’s biggest goal, as it was both the eventual game-winner and was the 1,000th point of Patrice Bergeron’s NHL career. 4-1 Bruins.

David Pastrnak put an exclamation point on the Bruins’ offensive outburst early in the third, as Tampa boldly decided to just not cover him on the power play. It didn’t work. 5-1 Bruins.

Tampa would get one back just 11 seconds later, as Rudolfs Balcers scored his first as a member of the Lightning to make it 5-2 Bruins.

Nick Paul scored his second of the game to make things interesting midway through the third, making it 5-3 Bruins.

But that would be as close as Tampa would get. The B’s shut the door down the stretch and will head southeast to Sunrise with a 5-3 win in their pocket.

Game notes

• It’s fitting that the 1,000th point of Patrice Bergeron’s NHL career would end up being a secondary assist on a game-winning goal.
• Trent Frederic left the game late and didn’t return; the team called it an upper-body injury.
• It’s getting to be a bit “broken record” at this point, but the Bruins’ depth (in terms of scoring contributions) was remarkable again tonight. The Bruins got goals from five different skaters, and ten of their 12 forwards registered a point or more; poor Tomas Nosek’s scoring streak ended though.
• Hampus Lindholm led the way for the B’s in terms of TOI, logging 24:39.
• The Bruins won the special teams battle tonight, recording two power play goals while allowing just one (Paul’s second). The B’s did themselves a favor by recording just three minor penalties on the night.
• File in the “Hockey Guy” column: as the net-front guy, Foligno took a puck to the face this morning while the team practiced its power play formation. He then scored a goal from that same net front tonight.
• The Bruins did a great job keeping Nikita Kucherov quiet tonight, as he registered just three shots on goal and no points in 21+ minutes TOI (including 1:59 on the PP).

The B’s are back at it for another helping of Florida sun on Wednesday, when they face the Panthers in Sunrise.