Right from the opening faceoff, it was clear that the intensity was going to be ratcheted up a bit at TD Garden Saturday afternoon. In fact, Garnet Hathaway and Pat Maroon began going at each other even before the puck was dropped, drawing a warning from the officials.
They did not heed that warning. Nine seconds later, Hathaway and Maroon had their gloves off and were throwing punches. Jakub Lauko and Ross Colton wrestled each other to the ice in a side match, and the tone for the day had been set.
In a game that felt made for someone like Hathaway, the Bruins’ deadline acquisition would also score what proved to be the game-winning goal as the Bruins clinched the Atlantic Division with a 2-1 victory, moving an astounding 22 points ahead of second-place Toronto with 10 games remaining.
Brad Marchand showed what Bruins are made of vs. Montreal
The Bruins were so focused on the task at hand that they didn’t even know they had clinched the division. Coach Jim Montgomery didn’t mention it after the game, and captain Patrice Bergeron didn’t realize it until he was asked a question about it during his postgame media availability.
“Did we?,” Bergeron responded. “...It’s not something, like I said, that we stop and worry about. We want to improve. We want to get better. I think tonight we liked the response. We talked about that. We liked the effort 5-on-5 and the 60-minute effort from top to bottom.”
The winning goal came with 2:28 left in the second period. Jakub Lauko and Tomas Nosek helped the Bruins win possession deep in the offensive zone, and Nosek moved the puck back to Matt Grzelcyk at the point. Hathaway went to the front, setting up shop in the perfect spot to bang home the rebound off Grzelcyk’s shot.
“Both,” Montgomery said when asked what he liked more from Hathaway -- the fight or the goal. “I think it’s why we were so excited when we acquired him, is because he’s a guy who builds your team game in all three zones. And he understands momentum, he understands when the other team is trying to impose their will, and he does a great job of imposing our will.”
As they have the vast majority of the season, the Bruins closed out the victory with a strong third period, limiting the Lightning’s chances while keeping on the attack when they had chances. A couple big saves from Linus Ullmark down the stretch helped as well. Ullmark finished the day with 26 saves on 27 shots faced.
The story of the first period was penalties. During the game-opening near-line brawl, Colton picked up an extra two minutes for roughing that sent the Bruins to their first of what would wind up being five power plays in the first period alone. The Lightning exhibited virtually zero discipline in the game’s early going, with Maroon getting called for unsportsmanlike conduct from the bench and Tampa Bay’s big trade deadline acquisition, Tanner Jeannot, racking up six penalty minutes by himself.
The Bruins were only able to make the Lightning pay on one of those power plays, though, with Brad Marchand throwing a pass to the front that deflected off Patrice Bergeron and in to give Boston a 1-0 lead 6:46 into the game.
Other than that, the Bruins’ power play left a lot to be desired all day. They continued to struggle mightily getting through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone when they had to regroup from their own end, constantly turning the puck over and running into or nearly running into each other. Eventually, the Lightning made them pay for their sloppiness, turning one such turnover into a shorthanded goal for Victor Hedman, who blasted a slap shot past Ullmark to tie the game at 1-1.
When the Bruins went to their final power play of the day in the third period with a chance to add to their lead, they instead nearly gave up another shorthanded goal when Anthony Cirelli got a step on Hampus Lindholm on a shorthanded chance, only to be denied by Ullmark’s left pad and a diving poke check attempt from Lindholm, which led to a minor scare when Lindholm crashed into Ullmark. Fortunately, everyone was OK.
While the Bruins’ power play was poor, their penalty kill and 5-on-5 play was excellent, and that’s why they won the game. After a shaky PK night against Montreal on Thursday, the Bruins’ kill bounced back in a big way Saturday, shutting down all five of Tampa Bay’s power plays and holding them to just four shots on goal total on them.
Dmitry Orlov, another trade deadline acquisition, was especially big on the PK. His 4:56 of shorthanded time on ice was a minute and a half more than anyone else. In the second period, he played 3:22 in a 3:52 span that saw the Bruins have to kill off back-to-back penalties, including all 1:10 of a Tampa 5-on-3.
“It’s just another dominant player back there,” Montgomery said of Orlov. “You talk about someone who imposes his will, too -- he took a couple big runs at players, and that’s noticeable on both benches.”
At 5-on-5, the Bruins controlled play. They outshot the Lightning 23-13, outscored them 1-0, and had 63.5% of expected goals. All 18 skaters in the Bruins lineup were on the ice for more 5-on-5 shots for than against.
“After the first, I really thought we got to our game 5-on-5,” Montgomery said. “I just thought that everyone started winning foot races, which is a big indication of not being deterred by any physicality that comes our way.”
While you never want to read too much into one game, Saturday did provide more evidence of something that’s been true all season: The Bruins are finally deeper than the Lightning, whose unparalleled depth was a calling card of their back-to-back Cup winners in 2020 and 2021. Their deadline acquisitions -- another advantage the Lightning have had in recent years -- were more impactful. And the Bruins are still awaiting the returns of Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno and Derek Forbort.
It doesn’t guarantee a Boston series victory by any means if these two teams end up meeting in the second round, but on Saturday, the Bruins rose to the occasion and showed why they might finally be ready to flip the script on Tampa Bay.
“I think 85 percent of it was will, by both teams,” Montgomery said. “I think it just made for a really good hockey game. Maybe a late 80s, early 90s type hockey game, but it’s great because we’re gonna face this in the playoffs. We’re gonna face games where it’s physical and it’s hard, and I really liked the way we responded.”
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