Darren Raddysh scored a franchise-setting, tiebreaking goal late, as the Tampa Bay Lightning closed their seven-game homestand with a three-goal third period in a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
In a career season, Raddysh netted the game-winner, his 21st, with over five minutes remaining in regulation, breaking a tie with teammate Victor Hedman for the most goals by a Lightning defenseman in a single season.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous netted one and Nikita Kucherov hit an empty net to seal it for Tampa Bay (48-22-6, 102 points), which went 5-1-1 on the season-long stand. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves.
Casey Mittelstadt tallied for Boston (43-26-8, 94 points), who is 0-2-0 on its four-game road trip, thus far, and lost both matches in Florida. Goalie Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 shots.
Before the match began, the Lightning learned they had qualified for the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season with losses by the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators.
Boston nearly had an easy rebound goal with a loose puck in Vasilevskiy’s blue paint, but charging defenseman Charlie McAvoy was dragged down by Raddysh, preventing the first tally but creating a power play.
However, the home side was successfully able to work through two penalty-kills, and Vasilevskiy and Swayman, who fought one another on Feb. 1 in the Stadium Series game, kept it scoreless.
In the second period, Vasilevskiy stuffed Viktor Arvidsson’s early backhander on a breakaway, but Arvidsson later spun and slipped a pass to a trailing Mittelstadt, who sped all alone through the slot and drilled his 15th at 6:47.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay had just five shots and were outplayed in the frame.
D’Astous put his club on the board by recovering his own rebound and burying the tying goal at 2:11 into the third, giving him two goals and eight points over the past seven outings.
The Atlantic Division opponents continued the tight-checking theme throughout the matchup, which could potentially be a first-round one in the postseason, until Raddysh sent a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle that bounced in off the inside of Swayman’s right arm at 14:29.
Kucherov potted No. 42 with Swayman out of the net at 18:27.
