The Boston Bruins (43-26-8) fell just short in a playoff-style game against the Tampa Bay Lightning (48-22-6) inside Amalie Arena on Saturday night.
The single most remarkable stat from tonight's loss? It's the first time this season the Bruins lost in regulation when leading after the second period.
They entered 31-0-4. They're now 31-1-4.
Of those five total games, Tampa Bay now is two of the losses. First is tonight, flipping a 1-0 Boston lead into a 3-1 Bolts victory. Before that is the infamous Stadium Series collapse, where the Bruins blew a 5-1 lead.
Tonight came down to a matter of inches. Early, Boston had the edge. Viktor Arvidsson made an incredible play to set up Casey Mittelstadt for the 1-0 lead:
As the game wore on, Tampa asserted themselves more and more.
Charle-Edouard D'Astous picked up a loose puck after a flubbed clear by Andrew Peeke. His first shot was stopped by Jeremy Swayman, but not the rebound.
The goal came just 2:13 into the third period, equalizing the score early.
Then, with under six minutes to go, Swayman had a rare error.
Darren Raddysh walked down the right wing wall, and just flung a high, hard wrist shot toward goal from the outside edge of the circle.
The release fooled Swayman, with it going in off of Swayman's arm.
By a matter of an inch, the puck beat Swayman. That was the difference tonight, with Nikita Kucherov's empty-netter polishing things off.
The photograph for this article shows the puck mid-flight. It's one Swayman surely sees, but just couldn't keep out.
Call it bad luck, call it a seeing-eye shot.
That's hockey.
Next up for the Bruins is an Easter Sunday matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers in Philly. Puck drop's scheduled for just after 3:30.
Philly's playing for third place in the Metropolitan Division, and had tonight off.
It should keep Boston's hands full.