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 And the veteran forward had something to talk about with his people
that he had never been able to talk about before.
"I've never scored here before. Played enough times," Boyle said
with a laugh after scoring twice to help his undefeated Tampa Bay
Lightning end a 10-game Garden losing streak with a 6-3 win over the
winless Boston Bruins.
In fact, the goals were the first two for the Boston College
product, who hails from nearby Hingham, Mass., in 22 career games
anywhere against the Bruins.
Boyle, a natural center playing on the left wing, scored the
Lightning's first and third goals as Tampa Bay moved to 3-0 after
spotting the Bruins (0-3) two early power play goals before roaring
back to get the rare win in this building -- the first since March
25, 2010.
"We've had enough tough games in here," Boyle said. "It's a hard
place to play and they compete. It's great to win here, it's tough
to win in here -- and we won."
Center Steven Stamkos snapped a 3-3 tie with a power-play goal in
the second period and left winger Jonathan Drouin beat Tuukka Rask
with an off-speed shot 5:38 into the third to pretty much decide the
issue.
The point was the 500th of Stamkos' career and came almost two years
from when he broke his left crashing into the net in the same
building.
"He's 25. He's a superstar," Boyle said. "He's an unbelievable
teammate, guy and friend. He's a good guy to be around every single
day. We're happy for him."
The Boston loss, giving the Bruins their first 0-3 start since
1999-2000, came in the season debut of defenseman/captain Zdeno
Chara, who missed the first two games with an upper body injury.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is the first time the
Bruins have started the season without any points in the first three
home games since 1965-66 -- the year before the arrival of Bobby
Orr. This is their first 0-3 start since 1999-2000, the eighth in
their 91-year history.
"It's a tough start," admitted defenseman Adam McQuaid. "It's not at
all the way we wanted to start this home stand."
Bruins coach Claude Julien, asked at the start of his post-game
media conference if he is concerned about his future with the bad
start, just said, "Next question."
Rask has been anything but sharp in losing all three games -- and
heard derisive cheers from the crowd after a routine save following
the fifth goal. He made 17 saves and has given up 14 goals on 91
shots in three games -- a dismal .846 save percentage.
Asked if his goalie is frustrated, Julien said, "It doesn't matter.
I think when you lose you're frustrated. I think everybody's
frustrated, not just Tuukka."
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Left winger Ondrej Palat scored Tampa's second goal and center
Valteri Filppula closed the scoring with 4:02 left. Center Tyler
Johnson and defenseman Victor Hedman had two assists apiece.
Boyle's second goal was a beauty, as he stole a pass by right winger
David Pastrnak, shook the featherweight off and went in alone on
Rask.
It was the Lightning's third win in their last 13 games overall
against the Bruins, their fifth in the last 19.
Ben Bishop made 27 stops in winning his third straight in the Tampa
Bay net.
The Bruins, who have yielded 16 goals in the three games -- all at
home -- scored three power-play goals, two by right winger Loui
Ericsson and. The other was by center David Krejci, who assisted on
both Ericsson goals. Defenseman Torey Krug drew an assist on all
three Boston goals.
The Bruins, one of six on the power play in their first two games,
needed 18 seconds to score on their first try in the game and just
23 seconds to delivered on their second.
NOTES: Tampa Bay C Alex Killorn notched his 100th career point on
the final goal. ... While Bruins D Zdeno Chara (upper body) made his
season debut, Boston was without Brad Marchand (concussion). Boston
coach Claude Julien said Marchand, injured Saturday night, was
"still going through some daily evaluation," but was hopeful
Marchand will be able to travel west with the team for games at
Colorado and Arizona. Marchand was in the press box during the game.
... RW Ryan Callahan appeared in his 100th game with the Lightning.
... The Bruins sent D Matt Irwin to Providence. ... Tampa Bay coach
Jon Cooper attended the Boston-Montreal game on Saturday night. ...
The Lightning visit the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night before
returning home. ... The Bruins honored paralyzed former Boston
University player Travis Roy before the game, after making a $50,000
donation to his foundation and signing him to a ceremonial one-day
contract marking the 20th anniversary of his injury. Roy also
dropped the first puck.
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