Patrice Bergeron had a goal and a pair of assists Thursday night, to lead the Boston Bruins past the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 at the TD Garden in Boston.
Boston (48-17-11), now with 107 points surpasses Tampa Bay for the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference top spot. The Lightning have 106 points.
Tim Schaller and David Pastrnak both scored in final minute of opening period to make it 2-0 Boston. J.T. Miller scored on the powerplay in the middle period for Tampa Bay to cut it to 2-1. Bergerons eventual game winner came almost 12 minutes into the third to make it 3-1. Victor Hedman cut it back to a one goal Bruins lead with a marker 1:55 later, making it 3-2. Brad Marchand finished off the visitors with an empty net goal with 56 seconds left to go. Pastrnak and Marchand both had an assist to go along with their goals. Boston will host Florida Saturday at 1 p.m.
Tuuka Rask made 26 saves for the win in goal for the Bruins. Boston was 1-2 on the powerplay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves in the loss for the Lightning. Tampa was 1-4 with the extra man, as their overall records drops to 51-22-4.
