The Tampa Bay Times Forum was lively with a full house before the puck even dropped Thursday night, but despite the loud chants of "Let's go Lightning," Boston right winger Nathan Horton beat Anders Lindback 1:11 into the game. Less than two minutes later, Patrice Bergeron had the Bruins up 2-0 early.

Steven Stamkos cut the Bruins lead in half at the 8:13 mark, his 11th goal of the shortened 2013 season.

The remainder of the first period was quiet on the ice, with the Lightning holding Boston within reach with the one-goal lead.

Tampa Bay rookie Cory Conacher evened it up at two-all with exactly nine minutes expired in the second, but Boston center Brad Marchand regained the lead for the Bruins after Tuuka Rask denied Martin St. Louis a goal on a break away. 

The Bolts spend the final 25 seconds of the middle frame on a power play after Zdeno Chara got called for roughing.

Throught forty minutes, Boston edged out the Bolts 20-17 in the shots departments and won 19 of 37 faceoffs.

Tampa Bay entered the game with the best home power play, but couldn't capitalize on the man advantage to start the final period. Horton struck again, putting Boston back up by two.

The Lightning entered the game first in the league in power plays at home, but after not converting on all three man-advantage opportunities, that ranking may slide.

When all was said and done, the Lightning were penalty-free and matched Boston in shots on net (26). The Bruins' victory could be attributed to Rask, who played exceptionally well between the pipes for Boston, denying several Lightning scoring opportunities.