NHL

Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins

· National Hockey League
Tampa Bay Lightning
49-25-6
Final
2 - 1
Boston Bruins
43-27-10

Emil Lilleberg scores late as Lightning beat Bruins 2-1; Boston clinches playoff spot later

Lightning score late to down the Bruins on the road

Deprived of the chance to win and get in, Boston clinched hours later when Detroit lost in regulation to New Jersey and the Red Wings were eliminated from contention.

Brandon Hagel also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots for Tampa Bay, which had already clinched a spot in the postseason but had fallen to third in the Atlantic Division.

Morgan Geekie scored and Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves for Boston, which has lost five in a row. The Bruins fell to the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with their loss and Ottawa's victory at the New York Islanders.

The Bruins broke the scoreless tie midway through the second period when Charlie McAvoy found Geekie streaking through the middle of the ice, ahead of the defense. Geekie gathered the puck as he crossed between the faceoff circles and beat Vasilevskiy glove side, just inside the post.

Tampa Bay tied it with 13 minutes left when Hagel got behind the Bruins defense and wristed it through Swayman’s legs. It stayed that way until Swayman left a rebound to his left and Lilleberg was there to punch it in.

Up next Tampa Bay: Wrap things up with home games against Detroit on Monday and the Rangers on Wednesday.

Boston: Visit Columbus on Sunday and host New Jersey on Tuesday to finish the regular season.

Regular Season Series

TB wins series 4-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 2nd Period 10:47 Morgan Geekie Goal (38) Wrist Shot, assists: Charlie McAvoy (50)
Goal 3rd Period 6:37 Brandon Hagel Goal (36) Wrist Shot, assists: Gage Goncalves (22), Ryan McDonagh (14)
Goal 3rd Period 18:25 Emil Lilleberg Goal (4) Wrist Shot, assists: Jake Guentzel (50), Brayden Point (31)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tb.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTB https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/bos.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originBOS
14 Blocked Shots 13
27 Hits 23
8 Takeaways 5
24 Shots 21
0 Power Play Goals 0
1 Power Play Opportunities 1
0.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
16 Faceoffs Won 26
38.1 Faceoff Win Percent 61.9
20 Giveaways 18
2 Total Penalties 2
4 Penalty Minutes 4
Boston Bruins Boston Bruins Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Pavel Zacha, C Out Apr 12
Hampus Lindholm, D Out Apr 12
Charlie McAvoy, D Out Apr 12
Viktor Arvidsson, LW Out Apr 12
Dans Locmelis, C Out Feb 28
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Zemgus Girgensons, C Day-To-Day Apr 12
Darren Raddysh, D Day-To-Day Apr 12
Pontus Holmberg, RW Out Apr 8
Victor Hedman, D Injured Reserve Apr 2
Maxwell Crozier, D Injured Reserve Mar 19

Game Information

TD Garden

Location: Boston, MA
Attendance: 17,850 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Buffalo 49 23 106 8
Montreal 48 23 106 10
Tampa Bay 49 25 104 6
Boston 44 27 98 10
Ottawa 43 27 97 11
Detroit 41 30 91 9
Florida 38 38 80 4
Toronto 32 34 78 14
Full Standings