Boston Bruins’ Strong Third Period Secures 7-3 Win Over Tampa Bay Lightning

Trent Frederic had two goals in the 7-3 win Saturday night at TD Garden ahead of the Boston Bruins' four-game road trip.

The Boston Bruins held a 4-3 lead going into the third period against a Tampa Bay Lightning team that had been clawing its way back into the game all Saturday night.

However, goals from Morgan Geekie, Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle in the final 20 minutes quieted the Lightning’s strike, padded the B’s advantage and secured the home-ice win at TD Garden.

“I really liked our third period. I thought we were smart, we didn’t give up an odd-man rush, we had numbers everywhere, and we kept hanging onto pucks in the offensive zone,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said Saturday.

Trent Frederic, David Pastrnak and Matt Poitras – in his first game back after World Juniors – each logged two points for the Bruins, and Linus Ullmark made 23 saves.

While Brayden Point gave the Lightning an early 1-0 lead just 21 seconds into the first period, Frederic and Charlie McAvoy earned the Bruins a 2-1 advantage by the end of the stanza.

Frederic’s first of the night came on the power play at 4:42. Kevin Shattenkirk showed good patience at the top of the zone and got it down to a net-front Frederic who flipped the puck from his backhand to his forehand and past Tampa Bay netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“It’s just having that confidence to look up, have the puck on certain parts of your stick,” Frederic said Saturday. “And I’ve kind of already told this a lot, but it’s ‘Monty’ putting confidence in me and then it’s grown over time and made it easier.”

Boston pulled ahead, 2-1, at 14:56 thanks to McAvoy’s blast from the point, securing his fourth goal of the season.

Frederic extended the Bruins’ lead at the beginning of the middle frame, throwing the puck at the crease from the goal line before it bounced in off Lightning defenseman Calvin de Haan’s skate and in. The tally marked his second two-goal game of the week – the 25-year-old forward potted two against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, too.

Nikita Kucherov cut Tampa Bay’s deficit to one at 7:53 of the second, but David Pastrnak was quick to respond and – less than a minute later – found twine on a breakaway. Pastrnak’s wrister made it 4-2 at 8:23 and was his 24th goal of the season.

The Lightning got within one again, however, off a highlight-reel setup from Kucherov to Point at 15:53. Kucherov slipped the puck between his legs before dishing it cross-crease to Point to rip past Ullmark from the left side for the 4-3 score.

Geekie began to close things out for the Bruins in the final frame while on the rush with Pastrnak, and wired the puck home from the right hash marks for the 5-3 lift at 1:35. The goal was Geekie’s second in two games, and sixth point in six games.

“I like the way we responded obviously, and I think we are taking steps in the right direction as a group. I think that showed tonight with the fight we had all game,” Geekie said Saturday.

“Our compete level is just going up and I think we are starting to execute along those lines too. We’re going to take it on the road with us and just try to get better each day out there.”

DeBrusk’s short-handed, empty-net goal and Coyle’s individual-effort, breakaway tuck in the last four minutes of regulation brought the contest to its final 7-3 score and sent the Bruins off on their four-game road trip with a little extra jump.

“I think we did a really good job of keeping things simple and keeping them to the outside,” Poitras said Saturday. “They’ve got lots of skilled guys over there, so I think we did a good job of just trying to contain them. It’s great to get a win.”

The Bruins are back in action Monday night at Ball Arena for a 9 p.m. puck drop against the Colorado Avalanche.