TAMPA, Fla. — Tuukka Rask stopped 23 shots to hand Tampa Bay its first shutout of the season and lift the Boston Bruins over the Lightning 3-0 on Saturday night.

It was Rask’s third shutout of the season and 41st of his career. It was also the first time the Lightning failed to score a goal since a 4-0 loss at Boston on April 4, 2017 – also against Rask.

David Pastrnak, David Backes and Riley Nash all scored for Boston, which moved within two points of the Lightning for the top spot in the Eastern Conference with one game in hand.

Torey Krug assisted on all three of the Bruins’ goals.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 24 shots for the Lightning, whose last shutout at home came on March 16, 2017, by Toronto’s Frederik Andersen. Tampa Bay has lost consecutive games after going 9-0-1 in the previous 10 games.

The Bruins played the final two periods without Backes, who left following a scary incident late in the first period. As Backes tumbled to the ice and fell into the crease area, the back of Yanni Gourde’s skate appeared to make contact just below Backes’ right knee. Backes immediately grabbed his leg. As he was making his way to the Boston bench, blood appeared to seep through his pants as he was rushed back to the locker room.

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The Bruins reported that Backes was resting after suffering a laceration on his knee that required several stiches.

Pastrnak opened the scoring with his 28th goal of the season, getting a step ahead of Mikhail Sergachev coming down the slot to take a pass from Krug and slip a backhander past Vasilevskiy 3:07 into the game.

Backes scored his 12th off a rebound in front for the first of two Boston power-play goals on the night.

Nash increased the lead to 3-0 in the second period with his 14th of the season.

Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara missed his second consecutive game with an unspecified upper-body injury.

OILERS 4, PANTHERS 2: Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists in the third period as Edmonton rallied at Sunrise, Florida.

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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ty Rattie and Adam Larsson also scored for the Oilers, who are 4-1-1 in their last six games.

Cam Talbot made 40 saves for the Oilers.

SABRES 5, BLACKHAWKS 3: Nicholas Baptiste scored two goals in the third period to lead Buffalo to a win at home.

Baptiste scored the winner on a deflection with 1:56 remaining. Following a faceoff win in the Chicago end, Marco Scandella’s shot from the point was deflected by Baptiste in the slot.

Flyers 4, Hurricanes 2: Valterri Filppula got the tiebreaking goal with 5:49 left as Philadelphia scored four times in the third period to win at Raleigh, North Carolina.

DEVILS 3, KINGS 0: Keith Kincaid stopped 38 saves for his first shutout of the season as New Jersey won at Los Angeles.

NOTES

CAPITALS: Center Evgeny Kuznetsov is day-to-day because of an upper body injury and won’t play Sunday at Philadelphia.

Kuznetsov was slashed on the left wrist Friday night by Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey and aggravated the damage when he crashed into the boards. Kuznetsov leads the Capitals with 50 assists, and is second with 21 goals and 71 points.


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