Tampa Bay @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 6, 2019 ) Tampa Bay 6, Boston 3

David Pastrnak and his dominant line look to keep their torrid scoring pace going when the Boston Bruins try to solve the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning in an Atlantic Division battle Thursday night. Pastrnak has six goals in the last four games, including four in Monday’s 4-2 victory over Anaheim, while the right wing and his linemates Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron have combined for 24 of the team’s 41 points.

“He’s such a talented player. He’s dangerous on every single play, regardless of where he is or where he gets the puck,” Marchand told reporters of Pastrnak. “You’ve got to do your job on him. If not, he’ll find himself in a scoring position.” Pastrnak boasts 11 goals and 19 points in 20 career regular-season contests against Tampa Bay, which won three of four meetings with the Bruins last season and the final four of the 2017-18 Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Lightning’s up-and-down start to the season continued as Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 33 shots on a 3-1 victory at Montreal on Tuesday to improve to 2-2-1 on their six-game road swing. “We still have a long way to go in our game, but in saying that, I thought the guys gamed it out,” Tampa Bay coach John Cooper told reporters. “And for the most part, they made a lot of the right plays when they should have and it turned into two points.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVA, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), NESN (Boston)

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (3-2-1): Vasilevskiy improved to 3-1-0 with his performance against Montreal and defenseman Victor Hedman told reporters: “He made some great saves. He’s so quick in the net. Vasy’s the best goalie in the world and he proved that again (Thursday).” Captain Steven Stamkos is off to a strong start with a team-high four goals - all in the last five games - and eight points to share the club lead with linemate Nikita Kucherov (three goals). Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev did not have six points until his 17th game last season, but reached that mark with a plus-7 rating in his first six contests this season.

ABOUT THE BRUINS (5-1-0): Marchand boasts four goals and five assists and Bergeron is third on the team with five points, but Boston has received only five goals from players outside its three best forwards. “(The top line) is on, they’re going,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters. “The first power-play has found their mojo again, so that’s good. But my mind’s more on the other group and how can we get them going. We’ll keep looking at it.” Second-line center David Krejci (one assist, five games) left Monday’s contest with an upper-body injury and his status for Thursday is uncertain.

OVERTIME

1. Tampa Bay LW Ondrej Palat has three goals in the first five games and it took him 19 contests to reach that mark last season.

2. Boston LW Jake DeBrusk is second on the team with 16 shots, but has yet to score.

3. Stamkos, the franchise leader in goals, needs three to reach 400.

PREDICTION: Bruins 3, Lightning 2