• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Murray's two-goal performance vaults Bruins past Lightning

Feb 24, 2008 - 5:19 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Glen Murray scored twice in less than two minutes to help the Boston Bruins to a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Rookie Milan Lucic, defenseman Mark Stuart and P.J. Axelsson also tallied for Boston, which completed a 4-0-1 road trip.

"What a great road trip for us, and now we've got to find a way to win at home," Bruins center Glen Metropolit said. "For most of the road trip, we've been pretty solid."

Alex Auld stopped 25 shots for the Bruins, who are 7-4-1 in their last 12 games and tied with the New York Rangers for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 70 points.

New York edged Buffalo, 4-3, on Saturday.

"Obviously, we're getting points, and it's obviously the goal here, but I also think there's room for improvement," Auld said. "That's a good sign, also. As we tidy things up, we'll just continue to roll."

"The win tonight is certainly important," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "We had some great goaltending. Auld made some big saves and kind of bailed us out on some of those bad turnovers."

Murray's first goal with 95 seconds remaining in the middle period snapped a 2-2 tie. He gathered the rebound of captain Zdeno Chara's shot and beat goaltender Johan Holmqvist with a backhander during a 5-on-3 advantage.

"We got back in the game, 2-2, playing well," Lightning center Brad Richards said. "We lost momentum and they get a go-ahead goal. We had some chances in the third. Obviously, the penalties in the second really changed the momentum."

The veteran Murray then scored his 12th goal of the season 17 seconds into the third, when Tampa Bay defenseman Paul Ranger inadvertently had a rebound go off his skate and past Holmqvist.

Murray's exploits proved crucial Vaclav Prospal sliced the deficit to 4-3 with 2:16 remaining, as he fired a wrist shot from the slot that trickled between Auld's pads.

But Axelsson restored the two-goal lead with a shorthander with 64 seconds remaining. Glen Metropolit had a breakaway and was being hooked, but he deftly slid a pass to Axelsson, who easily beat Holmqvist to the right side for his 11th of the season.

Mathieu Darche and Michel Ouellet also scored for Tampa Bay, but it was not enough to keep the team from losing for the 12th time in its last 17 home games.

"I'll be honest with you - there's a lot of stuff going on with this hockey club right now that is unfair to the players that are still trying to compete and play, and I am not making an excuse for the players," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said.

Holmqvist stopped 23 shots for the Lightning, who have dropped four straight overall.