Marchand lifts Bruins over Lighting

[March 09, 2016]  The Sports Xchange
 
 TAMPA, Fla. -- Thanks to a great effort from goalie Jonas Gustavsson and a timely goal from Brad Marchand, the Boston Bruins will leave the sunshine state at the top of the Atlantic Division.

Marchand scored his 34th goal of the season 10 seconds into the overtime period to give the Bruins a 1-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Boston (38-23-7) moved into a tie with the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division, the Lightning have a game in hand and have two more wins in regulation and overtime (36-34).

The Bruins took all four points in their two-day swing through Florida. Boston beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 in overtime Monday.

"Our patience paid off (Tuesday) and we found a way to score the goal we needed in overtime," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "They had us on our heels at times but overall I was happy with the way we played."

Bruins netminder Jonas Gustavsson had 42 saves in the win.

"Gustavsson played incredible," Marchand said. "We wouldn't have won if he didn't play the way he did. He made some timely saves for us and kept us in the game."

Tampa Bay (39-23-5) got 32 saves from Ben Bishop and several opportunities against Gustavsson but failed to put anything in the net.

Marchand's goal came when the Bruins got a 2-on-1 break off the faceoff. Patrice Bergeron carried the puck into the zone and made a clean pass to Marchand in the slot where he tipped the puck past Bishop for the goal.

"It was a tight game with a lot of good checks and a lot of back-and-forth action," Marchand said. "It was a big to get this win because we're battling for position right now. It's nice to see these results but we have a lot more work to do."

In a tight-checking game, both teams found it tough to get anything in the net during regulation. Lightning forward Alex Killorn was robbed by Gustavsson on a tip from a shot by defenseman Nikita Nesterov shot in the second period.

"We wanted to bounce back from (Monday), especially on the defensive end," Bergeron said. "We have 14 games left and we have a lot more to do but we're seeing some great things happening and we're growing as a team. (The Lightning) are a good team and they have four great lines. We blocked a lot of shots and of course Gustavsson made some great saves."

Bishop made equally impressive saves in the period, one on a redirection attempt from Bruins forward Landon Ferraro and a second save on center Loui Eriksson when he skated cleanly into the slot.

"We got the point and that was big because we need to continue to get points," Bishop said. "Obviously we'd like to get two points in every game but we'll take the point. It was a tight game, it's always tight this time of the season. I thought we battled and played hard."

The Lightning outshot the Bruins 34-21 in the final two periods.

"We probably came out a little flat in the first period," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "But we answered back in the second period and got the better scoring chances. It was a great game with bodies flying around everywhere and both goalies played outstanding. It was the type of game that I know we can play and I thought we recovered well from our game (Monday).

NOTES: Bruins D John-Michael Liles hit Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov in the throat with an elbow but the officials didn't call a penalty. "I was trying to step into him as he went by me but I didn't think I came in high," Liles said. "Just trying to do my job at the blue line." ... Lightning D Anton Stralman was not on the ice for warmups and the team called up D Luke Witkowski from AHL Syracuse. It's the first game Stralman has missed since joining the Lightning at the start of the 2014-15 season. ... Bruins G Tuukka Rask was a healthy scratch after making 47 saves in a 5-4 win against the Florida Panthers on Monday. ... Lightning D Andrej Sustr returned to the lineup after missing the past three games with an lower-body injury. ... Bruins RW David Pastrnak was demoted to the fourth line during Monday's game but was back on the second line with LW Loui Eriksson and C David Krejci.

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