Bruins withstand late Lightning rally

Structure has been such a key component during the Lightning's run of success the past month as Tampa Bay has played strong within its system. On Thursday night, that structure crumbled to the ground for a 12-minute stretch that left Tampa Bay settled in behind Boston's dust.

The Bruins scored four times in the first period, then held off a furious Tampa Bay rally for a 5-4 victory in the Lightning's final home game before the Olympic break. The loss drops Tampa Bay out of a playoff position, in ninth place behind Boston.

Michael Ryder, who had one goal in his previous nine games, scored twice in a span of 1:35 in a first period in which Tampa Bay allowed a franchise-record 21 shots on home ice. The meltdown occurred after the Lightning started the game registering the first seven shots.

"The first seven minutes, I thought we were playing well," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. "Then it just kind of snowballed. We got all discombobulated."

It all started in the offensive zone when Miroslav Satan had an open net after a cross-ice feed from Marc Savard at 4:24. Then a knucklepuck off the stick of Ryder bounced off Tampa Bay defenseman Matt Smaby and Boston's Milan Lucic before hopping past Antero Niittymaki like a ground ball that deflected off a rock at 11:21. Ryder then scored twice to make it 4-0 after 20 minutes.

Mike Smith, who finished with 14 saves, replaced Niittymaki but didn't fare much better to start the second period. Zdeno Chara launched a turnaround blast from the center point that Lucic got a stick on for a 5-0 lead at the 4:53 mark of the second. It was Boston's first shot of the period.

"It's very frustrating when you are down four or five there, and we really didn't give Niitty a chance there - they had a couple of tic-tac-toe plays," Lightning captain Vinny Lecavalier said. "We say that we don't mind giving shots to the outside, but it definitely wasn't that way tonight. Two or three of their goals, we let them into the perimeter and they got some tap-ins.

"We didn't come out sloppy, I just think it was maybe being out of position, maybe little technical mistakes."

With the Lightning in the midst of a playoff chase - they were as high as sixth Tuesday after defeating Vancouver - the stretch of poor play came at a particularly bad time against a team that was two points behind entering the night. And it became particularly disappointing following a spirited rally that wound up falling short.

Marty St. Louis scored twice in the final five minutes of the second period - he has nine goals in the past eight games - to provide a spark. Both were off tap-in plays on the back post, one off a pass from Victor Hedman - who had a career high three assists - and the other from Kurtis Foster on a power play.

Steve Downie then turned his game up a notch, scoring a pair of goals and drawing a key power play late in the game. Downie deflected a Hedman shot with 8:09 left, then stuck with a rebound that he put past Tuukka Rask with 3:13 left to play that made it a 5-4 game and gave hope of an incredible comeback.

The bid, however, came up short, leaving Tampa Bay with a loss that felt the same whether it ended 5-0 or 5-4. It was still two lost points.

"You can't play a half of a game and expect it to be good enough, especially against a team like that that is battling us for a playoff spot," St. Louis said.

"That first period was pretty embarrassing. But we fought hard, and I'm proud of us for that. Nobody quit on us tonight."

Again, it wasn't the quit at the end, but at the beginning.

"When they were pressing (in the first period) we had a tough time making 12-foot passes, and you need a couple of shifts to take your breath and get the momentum back, make a couple of good passes in their end, and we couldn't," Tocchet said. "There were about seven or eight shifts in a row."