4 observations from Lightning’s win over Bruins

TAMPA — The Lightning might have caught the Bruins at the right time Wednesday night, with Boston coming off a hard-fought comeback win over the Panthers in Sunrise the previous evening.

But that didn’t take away from the effort Tampa Bay showed — and the momentum it continued to gain — in its 3-1 victory at Amalie Arena.

With the win, the Lightning (40-25-7, 87 points) not only strengthened their position in the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, taking a six-point lead over the Capitals, but they also came within two points of the Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Tampa Bay is 7-0-1 over its current eight-game point streak.

“We’ve had a bit of up-and-down season, but just stringing together this many games in a row is good for our confidence,” center Brayden Point said. “I think we’ve kind of found an identity that really works for us…Just playing simple, not forcing things, playing our structure and waiting for opportunities.”

Point’s go-ahead goal at the 6:50 mark in the second period proved to be the game-winner, and was his 10th goal in his last seven games, giving him 16 points over that stretch.

Nikita Kucherov’s empty-net goal in the final minute of regulation was his 42nd of the season, setting a new career high.

Here were four observations from the Lightning’s win:

Vasilevskiy in postseason form

You won’t hear Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy tooting his own horn, but he was at his best on Thursday night, and the Tampa Bay defense did its best protecting the area in front of the net. The Lightning allowed just three high-danger scoring chances in 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

The Bruins still got their looks, and Vasilevskiy bore down early in the game and late. His late first-period save, blindly lunging across the net to take away an open net from James van Riemsdyk, kept the game scoreless.

Boston was determined to attack Vasilevskiy on his blocker side, but the Lightning goaltender didn’t break, stopping all 14 shots he saw in the second and third periods.

“We didn’t give off much,” Vasilevskiy said. “I made a few saves and I felt good about myself a little bit. But we just didn’t spend much time in our zone and it’s so much easier to play when your team just gives such a great effort on the ice.”

Chaffee with a spark

Rookie forward Mitchell Chaffee had been a healthy scratch in three of the last four games, but drew into the lineup on Wednesday and fit in well in the third-line right-wing spot usually occupied by Conor Sheary.

Chaffee opened the scoring midway through the first period with his first goal in nearly a month, getting a saucer pass from Nick Paul as he beat van Riemsdyk into the slot on a regroup.

Chaffee fit in well on a line that was relentless in the offensive zone. Mikey Eyssimont buzzed around the net all night, and gifted a Grade-A chance to Chaffee early in the third.

Jeannot gets revenge

Tanner Jeannot hasn’t recorded a point in his five games since returning from injury, but he certainly has added his patented physicality to the Lightning lineup.

Jeannot didn’t need any prodding to drop his gloves with Boston wing Trent Frederic late in the first period, bloodying Frederic with several right-handed upper cuts. It’s probably no coincidence that it was Frederic who injured Jeannot with a jarring hit from behind into the end boards on Jan. 6 in Boston, prompting Jeannot to miss 25 of the next 26 games.

Taking Frederic off the ice for five minutes was also valuable; he scored two goals in that 7-3 win in Boston on Jan. 6. After a five-hit night on Wednesday, Jeannot has 25 hits in his five games back.

Killers keep killing

The Lightning only committed two minor penalties, so their penalty-kill unit didn’t have to do too much work, but they did kill off a pair of power plays, improving to 30-for-31 over the last 10 games (96.8 percent), both while protecting a one-goal lead. They held Bruins star David Pastrnak to just two shot attempts in the four minutes of man-advantage time.

A tripping call on Steven Stamkos less than a minute after Point’s go-ahead goal could have shifted momentum, but the Lightning allowed just two shot attempts on that power play. Anthony Duclair’s tripping penalty also came at an untimely part of the game (1:40 remaining in the second), but the Lightning survived pressure at the end of the period thanks in part to blocked shots by Tyler Motte and Emil Lilleberg in the final moments of the second.

“Special teams have been a big deal,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Our penalty kill has done really well for us.”

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