Recap: Tampa Bay vs. Boston
Sports Network | December 29, 2009
Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Mike Smith stopped 31-of-32 shots, as Tampa Bay clipped Boston, 2-1, at St. Pete Times Forum.
Alex Tanguay and Martin St. Louis tallied for the Lightning, who have won four of their last five.
"We're playing for our lives right now to get in the playoffs," said Smith. "Every game is big for us, especially conference games. That was a good example of it tonight."
Marco Sturm hit the net for the Bruins, who had won three in a row. Tim Thomas took the loss despite making 37 saves.
"We had our chances tonight," said Sturm. "But we have to bury them better. We should have played the whole game like we did in the third, but we didn't and we didn't deserve to win."
Sturm converted the rebound of Marc Savard's shot, and the Bruins trimmed their deficit to 2-1 with 7 1/2 minutes left in the contest.
The Bolts failed to extend their advantage despite a pair of power plays late in the third period, then Boston had a golden chance to tie the game with Thomas pulled and a power play with 1:27 remaining.
However, Mark Recchi took a slashing penalty with 34 seconds on the clock, and the visitors produced only one scoring chance in the final seconds.
Tampa got on the board with 1:01 left in the first, when Vincent Lecavalier chased down a long shot which Thomas kicked away, controlled the puck and passed between his legs to Tanguay for a tap-in.
St. Louis doubled the advantage with 12 seconds left in the second period, stashing home the rebound of a Kurtis Foster chance.
The Bruins had won four of the previous five meetings with the Lightning...Both clubs are in action on Wednesday, as Tampa Bay hosts Montreal and Boston welcomes Atlanta.
