Talking Points: Hall Leads Bruins Winning Effort With Two Goals

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

GOLD STAR: Taylor Hall scored the first two goals for the Bruins and finally exploded for some offense while manning the third line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic. The first was a high tip in the slot that was exactly the kind of goal that you need to get by Andrei Vasilevskiy. The second was a one-timer snipe after a Nick Foligno pass from behind the net where Hall had a clean look given all the action that was happening around the paint. Hall finished with two goals and a plus-1 rating in 14:52 of ice time along with five shot attempts, one takeaway and two blocked shots. After a quiet stretch for Hall, he was one of the best players on the ice for the Black and Gold in the win.

Taylor Hall buries his second goal of the night.

Good patience from Foligno working behind the net.

2-1 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/YK8Kom1Xry

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) November 30, 2022

BLACK EYE: A very rare bad, tough night for Victor Hedman. The franchise Lightning defenseman was a minus-2 and had three giveaways and wasn’t much of an offense factor either with just a couple of shots on net. At least Hedman wasn’t on the ice for the Taylor Hall game-winner when the entire Lightning team bunched up while the puck was trapped against the side boards, and then couldn’t recover as penalty killers once Pavel Zacha reversed the puck to open Boston Bruins players ready to exploit the situation. But the bottom line is that it was a pretty solid for most Tampa Bay players, but Hedman wasn’t really one of them.

TURNING POINT: The Boston Bruins were protecting a one-goal lead in the third period when Jeremy Swayman stopped a Corey Perry rush cold when the veteran Lightning forward got off a strong shot against him. It started with a Brad Marchand turnover at the offensive blue line that immediately went back the other way and became a potential scoring chance for Tampa Bay at a key point in the game. Instead Swayman made the leg pad save on Perry and made 10 of his 27 saves overall while holding down the one-goal lead prior to Brad Marchand netting an empty netter late in the proceedings.

Jeremy Swayman makes a save on Corey Perry in the 3rd period #BOSvsTBL #NHLBruins #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/g0LuYNqCDT

— nopClips (@nopClips) November 30, 2022

HONORABLE MENTION: Jeremy Swayman had to wait and bide his time while Linus Ullmark was running hot as the No. 1 netminder over the first few months, but then he stepped in for an injured Ullmark to nab the win vs. the Hurricanes on Friday afternoon. The second-year goaltender continued that run with a vote of confidence start against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night and made 27 saves in probably his best outing of the season. Swayman made 10 saves in the third period while the B’s were holding down a one-goal lead and was outstanding as the Lightning attempted to generate some scoring chances with desperation. Swayman matched it and continues a stretch of extremely good hockey on home ice this season.

BY THE NUMBERS: 13 – the number of wins for the Boston Bruins at TD Garden to start the year as the continue to extend their NHL record on home ice.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “We keep finding different ways to win and it’s because of the unity in [the dressing room]. We found a way to be a really good team that’s been to the Stanley Cup Final three times and has won it twice.” -Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery to NESN when asked about the quality of the win.