Lightning winless in 6 straight

TAMPA - Tasks like the one that faced the Tampa Bay Lightning are never easy.

The Bolts were looking for their first win in nearly two weeks, but it was difficult against the red-hot Boston Bruins.

Tampa Bay got one past Boston goaltender Tim Thomas, but only one. The Bruins bided their time and pulled out a 3-1 win Thursday night before 15,598 at the Times Forum.

Boston broke a 1-all deadlock while killing off a penalty. After Blake Wheeler blocked a pass, he passed to a breaking David Krejci.

Krejci danced around Paul Ranger, then snapped one from the hash marks that beat Lightning goalie Mike Smith on the glove side with 11:43 left in the third period.

Thomas gave up a goal on the first shot he faced, but none after that. He finished with 30 saves and kept the Bruins (17-4-4) on a hot roll after a shaky 5-3-3 start.

Phil Kessel had two goals, including an empty-netter in the final second.

Tampa Bay (6-11-8) is now on a six-game skid (0-4-2) and is 1-4-4 under interim coach Rick Tocchet. The Lightning outshot the Bruins 31-26.

The Bruins had not played since an impressive 4-1 home win over Detroit. They showed some rust in the first five minutes, and the Lightning wasted little time in getting a goal on the board.

Tampa Bay (6-11-8) needed 81 seconds to score the game's opening goal, and it came on the first shot of the game. Vincent Lecavalier drew two defenders and found Martin St. Louis in the slot. St. Louis snapped one past the glove of Thomas, his former teammate at Vermont.

Tampa Bay had the first five shots before the Bruins got in gear. However, Smith made some great stops on Chuck Kobasew and Blake Wheeler.

The period ended even in shots at 9-9, but no shots came from Boston's top line of Milan Lucic, Marc Savard and Phil Kessel.

Thomas was strong again in the Boston goal, making big stops on Lecavalier, Vinny Prospal and Steven Stamkos to open the second period. The pressure, though, was not maintained.

The first shot from the Bruins' top line came in the middle of the second. Kessel was stoned on a rebound after Smith got the pads on a Mark Stuart shot.

Kessel got the Bruins even at 12:21 of the second with his team-leading 14th goal. He took a Savard pass atop the crease and tapped it past Smith's pads.

Lucic was stoned by Smith with just over three minutes left.

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