BOSTON — With the Lightning’s top scorers going through their longest goal-scoring droughts of the season, they knew getting back to basics could help get them out of their recent funk.
You can’t score without the puck on your stick. So going into their game Thursday night at Boston, the Lightning wanted to focus on establishing zone time.
For much of the night at TD Garden, the Lightning weren’t able to do that, chasing the puck through their own zone and putting pressure on goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Still, the Lightning had the lead twice, but David Pastrnak’s hat trick sent them to a 3-2 loss.
Pastrnak scored when the Lightning (39-18-6, 84 points) couldn’t get out of their own zone, and Pastrnak put in a rebound past Vasilevskiy with 4:10 left in the game.
With the Lightning’s sixth loss in their past eight games, they dropped behind the third-place Bruins (40-19-5, 85 points) in the Atlantic Division standings and into the first wild-card position.
They were dominated in shots and zone time by the Bruins, but Steven Stamkos’ goal 3:51 into the game gave the Lightning their second lead of the night that wouldn’t hold.
Stamkos entered the game with no goals in his past eight games. Brayden Point has just one goal in his past eight games, and Nikita Kucherov one in his past 10.
They all drove to the net on Stamkos’ goal, keeping the puck in front of the net long enough for Stamkos to snap a shot past Jeremy Swayman from the slot.
Pastrnak scored his second goal of the game 8:17 into the third, jamming the puck inside the near post past Vasilevskiy.
An early string of penalties prevented the Lightning from getting ice time in 5-on-5 play, and when it did get even-strength minutes, Tampa Bay struggled to muster much in the offensive end.
In a lot of ways, the Lightning were fortunate to go into the third period tied at 1, especially after opening the second period being outshot 15-1.
The penalty-kill unit, which allowed two goals in Tuesday’s loss at Carolina, did its part. And the one shot the Lightning did have during that second-period stretch was a short-handed goal by newcomer Brandon Hagel. He scored his first goal for the Lighting in his third game since coming over from Chicago before the trade deadline.
The Lightning ran into penalty trouble early as defenseman Erik Cernak took a four-minute high-sticking penalty 80 seconds into the game. The Lightning’s penalty kill had to spend 5:57 of the first on the ice after Cernak took a second penalty, an interference call with 5:41 left in the period.
On the penalty kill, Hagel was paired with Ondrej Palat, who hasn’t been in the regular penalty-kill rotation this season. They combined for the Lightning’s fifth short-handed goal of the season.
Hagel and Palat pressured the puck at their own blue line and forced a turnover in the neutral zone. Palat methodically skated up ice along the left circle, drawing just enough attention his way to open up a spot for Hagel in front of the net for a one-timer that beat Jeremy Swayman 7:11 into the second.
The Bruins responded quickly on Pastrnak’s goal 9:55 into the period. Eric Haula sent a well-placed stretch pass off the boards and at the stick of Pastrnak, who gained inside position on Ryan McDonagh on his way and to beating Vasilevskiy.
