Bolts Shutout in St. Patty’s Day Match-up with Bruins
By Tyler J Santana
Overview
The Bolts came into this matchup looking to keep Boston off their heels in the Atlantic Division race. The Bruins struck early and shut the game down from there. While the Bolts were able to get it going a bit in the 3rd period, they would fail to score and were shutout 3-0 on St. Patrick’s Day.
1st Period
The Bolts started the game off the better team, they were buzzing and may have surprised the Bruins with how they started so quick. Then David Pastrnak opened the scoring and Boston dominated the first from there. They would strike on the Powerplay as David Backes fired a wrist shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy to double up the Bruins lead to 2-0. The Bolts seemed lost, like they were encircled by Bruins with nowhere to go. The Lightning didn’t generate a shot on goal until almost halfway through the first period, and they would finish with 5 SOG or shots on goal as they just missed the net all night. The Bruins would dictate play the rest of the way using their speed and size and the period would come to a close 2-0.
Shots 12-5 Bruins
Score 2-0 Bruins
2nd Period
The Bolts looked dangerous at the start of the period, with Brayden Point getting a point-blank chance on Tukka Rask, but Rask stood tall, making a handful of good stops in this game. The Bruins took control from there and clogged the neutral zone while standing up at the blue line, they slowed the game down when they wanted to, never letting the faster Bolts team set the tempo. Riley Nash would convert on the powerplay to extend the Bruins lead to 3-0. The Bolts would get two powerplays back to back and both looked helpless. The aggressive PK has hurt the Bolts powerplay as teams realize it’s going to Kucherov or Stamkos and if they cover those guys this powerplay doesn’t know what to do. In short, start shooting more with players other then 91 and 86.
Shots 20-14 Bruins
Score 3-0 Bruins
3rd Period
This was the Lightning’s best period of play, which is encouraging I suppose. They skated fast, they opened up shooting lanes and got their opportunities, they just ran into a good goalie in Rask and weren’t able to jam home any rebounds. The Lightning’s game is speed, but they’re very good at using their speed through all three periods. Boston sat back having the lead here, but Boston also didn’t have the same jump they had all game. The Bruins then turn to playing heavy, throwing hits and clogging the zones up. This is where the Bolts need to look to beat teams like Boston, keep it tight through 2 periods and then skate through them. The Bolts successfully killed a penalty in this period too, something they couldn’t do in the previous 2 periods. The Bolts nearly broke the shutout when Alex Killorn got a puck on his backhand right in front with an open net, but he sent the puck wide. The Bolts would fail to score tonight and were shutout 3-0.
Shots 27-23 Bruins
Bolts lose 3-0
3 stars
1st Star: Tukka Rask (23 Save shutout)
2nd Star: Torrey Krug (3A)
3rd Star: David Pastrnak (1G, GWG)
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We host the Edmonton Oilers at 5 pm ET on Sunday, March 18th.