Steven Stamkos' goal in the 2nd period made him the fastest player in Lightning history to score 20 goals in a season, reaching the milestone in the 21st game. He breaks the mark of Chris Kontos, who scored 20 goals in 27 games in the 1992-93 season. Kontos finished that season with 27 goals.
Stamkos, on the milestone:
"It’s nice, but we just want to keep going. I just want to chip in offensively whenever I can to help this team win games, and however many goals you get, those don’t matter as long as you’re helping the team win."
Goalie Mike Smith turned away 26 of 27 shots for his third straight win.
Smith, on his recent performance:
"In all of our games, our whole defensive corps, guys are dropping down in front of pucks and that’s making it a lot easier on myself. I’m making some saves, but our defense in front of me are playing tremendous. (Head coach) Guy (Boucher) has also been helping me with the mental part of the game. He’s been telling me to go get it and the last two games it has really helped out."
Head coach Guy Boucher on Smith:
"Mike Smith is an aggressive individual, an emotional one. I think what we wanted to do and what he wanted to do obviously is make sure he kept his structure through his games. We probably asked too much of an emotional setback in the sense that you can’t take an emotional guy and make him an unemotional guy."
Stamkos on Smith:
"I don’t think there’s that much to be said. He proved it on the ice tonight and in the last two games he’s been outstanding. He made some big saves for us in the third period and kept it going all night. He’s been an inspiration to all of us just how hard he has been working, and it’s good for him."
The Lightning’s aggressive offensive attack got the better of the Bruins, one of the best defensive teams in the league, particularly in the second period when the Lightning scored all three of their goals and outshot Boston 20-8.
Stamkos:
"There were some players who played a very solid game for us. It was a huge win versus a very good team in the Eastern Conference. We’re on a roll right now."
Nate Thompson:
"We stuck with it. I thought we had a great first period, but we stuck to our structure and our game plan and got our goals in the second period. I thought we sat back a little bit in the third period. They came out strong, but Smitty had some huge saves at the end of the game. I think we’re playing with confidence and we’ve got a good thing going right now. It feels good, but we can’t accept that. We want more, we want to get better, and tonight I thought we brought that effort right from the start of the first period."
Boston’s Zdeno Chara:
"To win a hockey game you have to play 60 minutes and that’s something that we didn’t do. Basically for the first 40 minutes Tampa was dominating the game and they deserved to win. We were just too slow to get to the pucks. We were losing battles. It’s too late when you turn the engines on in the last 20 minutes. That’s not good enough. They (the Lightning) were putting a lot of pucks on the net. They were going in for the rebounds. They had really good drives to the net and made plays. They put a lot of pressure on us, especially in the neutral zone, and created those turnovers that always kill you. If you don’t take care of those pucks in the neutral zone it’s going to come back the opposite way."