TAMPA, Fla. — In overtime, Marat Khusnutdinov scooped the puck off the boards. As Jeremy Swayman turned to his left to watch Khusnutdinov, he saw referee Pierre Lambert with his right arm raised. When Lambert let Khusnutdinov skate the puck up the ice, Swayman figured a call was coming on the Tampa Bay Lightning.

So Swayman skated toward the bench. Khusnutdinov gave the puck to David Pastrnak.

The right wing faked a slapper, then pumped a wrist shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy. Pastrnak thought he had given the Boston Bruins a 6-5 overtime win in Sunday’s Stadium Series game.

Instead, Lambert sent Pastrnak off for slashing J.J. Moser on the previous rush.

“I have no clue what happened, honestly,” Pastrnak said after the 6-5 shootout loss. “It’s a freaking turnover, we got a two-on-one. Referee has his arm up. He’s letting it go. Sway’s going to the bench. We finish the play, score a goal. All of a sudden I’m in the penalty box. Joke. I don’t understand. I’ve never seen something like that. To me, it was a joke. I don’t care if that’s a bad answer, but that’s how I feel. It’s weird. Score a goal and end up in the penalty box. Whatever. We gave them two points and that’s what matters.”

Jake Guentzel scored the only goal in the shootout. Pastrnak, the Bruins’ final shooter, pinged his attempt off the right post. What should have been a sure two points — the Bruins had a 5-1 lead halfway through the second period — ended up being one.

THEY LEGIT TOOK IT OUTSIDE 👊 pic.twitter.com/No5pYO2FRe

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 2, 2026

“Oh man. That hurts,” Charlie McAvoy said. “It hurts a lot. The way we lost it is just brutal.”

The Bruins lost the game well before Guentzel’s shootout wrister over Swayman’s glove. They did it in a way they’ve mastered: by taking too many penalties.

“We spent half the game in the penalty box,” McAvoy said.

The Bruins took 10 minor penalties. They are up to 238. They are best in show.

They have spent 340:02 killing penalties. It is also the most of any team.

It was not just a matter of being careless with sticks or arms. McAvoy was called for roughing after taking exception to rough stuff by Zemgus Girgensons in the second period. Later in the second, Mark Kastelic was sent off for roughing after taking a run at Oliver Bjorkstrand.

“We didn’t have our composure, I would say,” said Boston head coach Marco Sturm. “It started with Charlie’s penalty there. They were just better than us after the whistle. I don’t think they were better than us today hockey-wise. But they were better than us after the whistle. They’re not tougher than us. But they did a good job. We just lost our composure a little bit.”

There was more to come.

Nobody minded Swayman’s second-period fight with Vasilevskiy. But after the scrap, Swayman triggered a run of penalties by sending the puck over the glass at 14:03. Thirteen seconds later, Tanner Jeannot was nabbed for interference. Then while Tampa was on a five-on-three power play, Sean Kuraly closed his hand on a puck.

The Lightning are perpetual PP punishers. It begins and ends with their wizard: Nikita Kucherov. Nobody works the right-side half-wall better than No. 86. He is the perfect mix of skill, deception and anticipation. Even his knack for pulling pucks off the wall is elite.

Kucherov becomes even more dangerous when the Lightning have two more skaters on the ice than their opponent. It becomes just a matter of time before Kucherov makes the opposition pay.

“If you give a guy like Kucherov 10 minutes on the power play,” said Sturm, “you did something wrong.”

At 15:50, after Kucherov placed a perfect puck in his wheelhouse, Darren Raddysh hammered a five-on-three one-timer past Swayman. Then at 16:13, with Jeannot and Kuraly still in the box, Nick Paul blasted home a net-front goal. It was thanks again to Kucherov. After faking a slap shot, Kucherov had sent a pass down to Guentzel. Swayman, down in reverse vertical-horizontal to take away Guentzel’s shot, couldn’t get over in time to stop Paul. The Bruins’ 5-1 lead was down to one goal.

A PAIR FOR THE GEEK SQUAD 🤓 pic.twitter.com/fRWYYH8cPp

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 2, 2026

“We could complain all day and night about the calls that were made,” said Morgan Geekie (two goals). “But at the end of the day, there wasn’t too many of them that weren’t penalties. It’s just unfortunate we kept putting ourselves in the box, knowing what they have on the other side when it comes to special teams. We just look ourselves in the mirror. It’s been an issue all year, so it’s not like it’s a one-off thing.”

In the third, Kucherov finished his business. After accepting a cross-ice pass from Ryan McDonagh, Kucherov smacked a one-timer from outside the right faceoff dot over Swayman’s glove, tying the score at 5-5.

Kucherov’s final line: one five-on-five goal, one five-on-five assist, two PP helpers, a game-high eight shots. Tampa went 3 for 8 on the power play.

“It just killed our momentum,” McAvoy said of giving Tampa 1:57 of five-on-three time. “It just killed the game. It was a good game before that. Then we’re in the box for that whole period. Obviously the goalie fight’s fun. That was really cool for Sway and us. But after that, we just kept taking penalties. We had complete control of the game. Then you give a team with that kind of power play a five-on-three for I don’t even know how long, you’re just asking for it.”