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Sturm, Thomas help make Bruins' home opener a success

Oct 19, 2007 - 3:14 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Boston Bruins finally got to play at home. The Tampa Bay Lightning would rather have played somewhere else.

Marco Sturm scored twice and Tim Thomas made 35 saves as the Bruins continued their home dominance of the Lightning with a 4-1 victory in their first game at TD Banknorth Garden this season on Thursday.

Patrice Bergeron and defenseman Andrew Ference each recorded two assists for Boston, which improved to 19-1-5 in its last 25 home meetings with Tampa Bay. The Bruins, who went 3-2-0 on their season-opening five-game road trip, also have won five straight overall against the Lightning.

Tampa Bay outshot Boston, 15-3, in the second period but could not erase a two-goal deficit.

"It was one of those games where we took it to them and we couldn't get that next step," Tampa Bay's Brad Richards said. "We outplayed them in the second period, but they still had a lead going into the third and we had to take some chances at times, and it ended up too late."

"They are a good team," Thomas said. "Sometimes they are going to have the momentum for a period like that, and if you can hold your ground and still come out of it with the lead like that, it's a great thing."

With much of the attention in Beantown focused on the American League Championship Series game involving the Red Sox, the Bruins got off to a fast start, taking a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.

From the right point, Ference unleashed a shot toward the net. Peter Schaefer, who was acquired from Ottawa over the summer, attempted to avoid getting hit, but the puck deflected off his right leg and past goaltender Johan Holmqvist at 3:48 for his first tally as a Bruin.

Boston doubled the advantage with 10 seconds remaining in the opening period, as Sturm fired a one-timer from along the right wing boards that got by a screened Holmqvist for his second of the season. Ference picked up his second assist of the night on the play.

"I thought we played well in the first period," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "We came out with the intensity that we needed."

"That late goal in the first period, with 10 seconds left or whatever it was, that hurts," Richards said.

Tampa Bay halved the deficit early in the middle period. An attempted shot from the right point by rookie blue-liner Mike Lundin was knocked down by a Bruin, and the puck went to Richards, who turned and fired it past Thomas from the doorstep at 1:45.

Lundin's assist on the play was his first NHL point.

Defenseman Mark Stuart gave Boston breathing room midway through the third with his second goal in 38 career games. After taking a drop pass from Chuck Kobasew above the right circle, Marc Savard dished across the slot to Stuart, who buried a shot by Holmqvist at 9:49 for a 3-1 bulge.

"I just saw Savy bring the puck up and it looked like a 2-on-2," Stuart said. "Their guy was kind of skating with me, but I had a step on him, so I just kept going and Savy found me. I just let it go, I wasn't thinking at all."

The 21st overall pick in the 2003 draft, Stuart netted his first career goal against Washington on April 10.

Sturm sealed the victory with 3:41 remaining, tapping in a pass by Bergeron from the bottom of the right circle while on the left side of the crease for his second of the game.

"We tried to stick with the system and use our speed," Sturm said. "For two periods, we did it pretty good. Now, we have to work on 60 (minutes)."

Holmqvist finished with 19 saves for Tampa Bay, which has lost two in a row after beginning the season with three straight victories.

"I like our effort, we stuck with it and kept battling," Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis said. "We definitely can take some good things out of this, but the bottom line is that it's a loss, and that's not good enough."

Thomas turned aside 29 shots over the final two periods after needing to make just six saves in the opening session.

"Against a team like Tampa that forechecks like that, you have to pay the price to get the puck out, and it was part of the difficulty we ran into in the second period," Thomas said. "In the third period, guys laid their bodies on the line to get the job done."

"He made a lot of good saves," Richards said. "We had a lot of good scoring chances, tips he was very sharp on. He played really well."

Julien also was impressed with Thomas' play.

"Tim was good tonight, he made some good saves," he said. "We did do a good job of keeping them on the outside, but when they did get in on the inside, Tim was there to make the big save. We got some strong goaltending again tonight."