Resilient Lightning rebound to beat Bruins 4-2 in Game 2

TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Lightning have been just as resilient in the Stanley Cup playoffs as they’ve been all season.

Challenged by coach Jon Cooper to compete harder and raise their level of play after dropping the opener of their second-round series against the Boston Bruins, the top seed in the Eastern Conference responded with a 4-2 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-seven matchup Monday night.

Brayden Point had an empty-net goal and three assists. He also teamed with Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat to slow down Boston’s high-scoring line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand.

Game 3 is Wednesday night in Boston.

“It feels good. I thought we played well,” Point said after posting just the third four-point game in Tampa Bay’s playoff history. “We had a tough night in Game 1. I thought we came back tonight knowing we’d end up better.”

Point assisted on Tampa Bay’s first three goals before sealing the win with his empty-netter with 25.2 seconds left.

Yanni Gourde had a first-period goal and Johnson and Palat also scored for the Lightning, which rebounded from a 6-2 loss in Game 1.

“We needed to have a bounce back, we needed to have an answer, and I thought we did that,” Johnson, a former standout for the Spokane Chiefs, said. “I thought we competed really hard, I thought we played well and we got rewarded with some chances and some opportunities.”

Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand combined for three goals and 11 points in the opener, with most of the damage coming while Point’s line was trying to contain them. They had four more points in Game 2, but were unable to take over the game.

Cooper said he never considered changing the matchup against Boston’s top line.

“I honestly didn’t. … We know they can do it. We have faith in them, and I thought they were outstanding tonight,” Cooper said before turning his attention back to Point.

“The kid’s a hockey player and he competes hard,” Cooper said. “Trust me, if there was any talk of pulling him off that line, I think those three guys would have marched right into my room and said, `What are you doing?“’

Charlie McAvoy scored for the Bruins late in the first period. Torey Krug’s late goal trimmed Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-2 with just over four minutes remaining.

Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 18 shots. Tuukka Rask finished with 27 saves for Boston.