With bad blood spilling all over the Garden between two teams that played a week ago, the Bruins sprinted to a 4-0 second-period lead and hung on for a 6-2 victory against divisional rival Tampa Bay.

The Lightning played without their leading goal-scorer, top center Brayden Point, who was scratched for missing a team meeting prior to the morning skate. It forced the team to scramble just to get enough players to fill its roster, recalling 22-year-old forward Jack Finley from AHL Syracuse to make his NHL debut as the 12th forward.

A three-point night from David Pastrnak and a locked-in night from Jeremy Swayman helped propel the Boston Bruins to a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night at the TD Garden. Parker Wotherspoon also netted his first NHL goal in the win while Swayman made 43 saves It was the Bruins’ second straight win and the second consecutive game where they gave up more than 40 shots.

Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (21) breaks out ahead of Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63 ... to control the puck in front of Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday ...

Two Bruins scored their first goals of the season as Boston jumped out to a big lead early and tacked on two short-handed, empty-net goals late to pull away for a big division win. Parker Wotherspoon scored the first goal of his career early and Andrew Peeke notched his first as a Bruin late in the 6-2 win Thursday at TD Garden.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point reached 600 career points with a power-play goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Thursday night.

We are firmly into the second half with a neck-and-neck-and-neck race for the top of the fantasy podium. Connor Hellebuyck will surely start getting some additional rest later in the season, so the race at the top right now is between Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon.

Kirby Dach scored twice and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Utah Hockey Club 5-3 on Tuesday night. Mike Matheson, Patrik Laine and Cole Caufield also scored for Montreal, which has won eight of its last 10.

Talking about the 2024-25 Boston Bruins has been an endless rollercoaster ride. Topics have ranged from calling up players from Providence, the slacking offense, and goaltending not being where it needs to be.

Andrew Peeke is who he is and he knows that identity. That doesn’t mean he can’t keep adding things to his game.

A poor start doomed the Lightning, as they allowed four unanswered goals in the opening 26:05. Although they pushed hard in the final 14 minutes of the second period and reduced the deficit to two, they were unable to pull themselves out of the hole they dug.

Coach Jon Cooper told media postgame that slow starts plagued his team throughout the three-game road trip that ended Tuesday—Tampa Bay trailed in all three games against the New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins and Bruins despite finishing the trip with a 1-1-1 record.