Wednesday Night’s matchup against the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning was quite the show. Admittedly, I, much like the majority of you puck heads out there, penciled this one in as a loss. It was far from it. Here are the three keys to Boston’s big win:

The Matchup Game. Head coach Bruce Cassidy was more than happy to load up the Bruins’ top line with Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak. The trio went toe-to-toe with Tampa Bay’s top line of Stamkos, Kucherov, and Namestnikov, and the former shut down the latter. In fact, the B’s forwards (with the help of Charlie McAvoy) were so good, that Tampa’s head coach John Cooper had to split up his three-headed monster after the first period. This game might have officially been the coming-out party for McAvoy, as the rookie defenseman logged a game-high 28:11 TOI (even outplaying Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman by almost a minute and a half) and showed up big on the score sheet with 1G, 1A and a +2 rating. The future has arrived everyone, it wears number 73.

Tuukka Rask. The Bruins #1 netminder finally got a big win for his team. It wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but hopefully it’s a step in the right direction for the 30-year-old Fin. The 3-2 victory marks just the fourth win of the season for Tuukka, and his first since November 6. Both wins were remarkably similar. The first included Rask making 24 saves on 27 shots (.889 SV%), while the Bruins took 34 of their own. The most recent included Rask making 19 saves on 21 shots (.905 SV%), while Boston fired 36 shots on net. It doesn’t make you feel very confident about Tuukka being able to stand on his head and steal a game for this team; those numbers certainly aren’t anywhere close to Vezina-caliber. Logic would suggest that if he faced more than 21 shots against the Lightning, eventually Tuukka would have surrendered the lead. There have been questions about the team’s performance in front of Tuukka this season, and luckily his teammates showed up for this one.

David Backes is the man. That whole question about the Bruins desire to play, well maybe it has to do with #42 being out of the lineup so much this year. He might have a semi-colon, but Backes still has a full heart. Sure, he’s getting a little old, and he may not be the fastest guy on the ice, but the way David Backes plays the game of hockey is exactly what the Boston Bruins have always been about. Just 27 days after colon surgery, Backes played 19 minutes, won 7 out of 10 faceoffs, and lead the team with 5 hits (no other Bruin had more than 2). While the scoresheet doesn’t look impressive (zero points, and a -1 rating), that doesn’t tell the whole story. In the six games that Backes has been in the lineup this year, the Bruins are 3-0-3, and have yet to lose in regulation. Clearly, his presence makes a difference in the way the team plays. Hopefully, he has put his colon issues behind him (pun intended), and this team can continue to bring the heat every night and be more consistent in the effort department. Let’s hope they don’t take the day off against a much lesser opponent in Philly this Saturday.

Jegs-