The Boston Bruins defeated the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Tuesday night, with goals and assists from Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak, as well as a career-high 43 saves from Jeremy Swayman.
Pastrnak scored his seventh goal and tenth point in a six-game stretch in the second period to secure his second straight three-point effort, marking the ninth time in his 11-year NHL career that he has reached the 20-goal milestone.
The Bruins, who had won back-to-back games after a season-long 0-5-1 slump, received goals and assists from Andrew Peeke, Trent Frederic, Parker Wotherspoon (first NHL goal), and Brad Marchand.
Boston exacted revenge for a 4-1 setback at Tampa Bay last Thursday, with Swayman stopping 18 shots in the second period.
Tampa Bay, which has won three of its past four games (3-0-1), received goals and assists from Victor Hedman and Connor Geekie. 18 saves were made by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Poitras made an instant impression after being called up from AHL Providence in the morning for his first game with Boston since November. He sprinted up the right side and dished to a charging Frederic to score the game-opening goal at 4:24.
At 9:31, Wotherspoon collected Pastrnak’s cross-ice pass and fired a top-shelf snap shot from the left circle, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead on only six first-period shots.
At 1:13 of the second, Marchand increased Boston’s advantage to three. A swift Pastrnak feed in the neutral zone sent his captain down the left side to beat Vasilevskiy high to the blocker side after Hedman’s shot missed Swayman at the other end of the rink.
Pastrnak scored Boston’s fourth goal at 6:05 when the game was played at 4-on-4. Pastrnak snapped home from the left circle after Zacha retrieved the puck after Vasilevskiy stopped Morgan Geekie in the slot.
The first goal came at 8:50 when Connor Geekie turned in a Hedman point shot from right in front of Swayman, bringing Tampa Bay within 4-2 before the second half.
Hedman rushed into the circle from the left point, collected a Kucherov feed, and snapped it off with 17.2 seconds remaining in the period, just after Swayman made a point-blank stop on Nikita Kucherov.
During the opening 29 seconds of a late penalty kill, Boston’s own zone saw shorthanded empty-net goals from Peeke and Zacha.
Both Tampa Bay center Jack Finley and Boston defenseman Michael Callahan made their NHL debuts in the match.
