BOSTON - With just 21 penalty minutes, Tim Taylor is not your classic enforcer. Yet the Lightning center went after Nick Boynton after his huge hit on Dmitry Afanasenkov.
"That's one of those unwritten rules," Taylor said Saturday. "You stick up for your teammates."
Boynton caught Afanasenkov cutting through the neutral zone with his head down 6:49 into the second period. The check left Afanasenkov on the ice for about a minute.
Taylor admitted the hit was clean. Didn't matter, he said. "He hit our guy pretty good. We can't allow that to happen."
Taylor went halfway across the ice to tackle Boynton against the side boards. Taylor received four minutes for roughing, Boynton two, and the Bruins scored on the power play to take a 4-3 lead.
Taylor had no regrets.
"It's a message within our locker room, and we want to send a message to (the Bruins) that we're not going to take it," Taylor said.
PENALTY TIME: The Lightning and referees Dan Marouelli and Kevin Pollock had a testy relationship during the game.
Particularly upsetting to Tampa Bay was a hook by Boston's Dan McGillis that was not called, though it prevented a Fredrik Modin breakaway, and McGillis' blatant takedown and interference with Martin St. Louis well behind the play. Both occurred in the second period.
Center Vinny Lecavalier also had a beef when he was cross-checked to the ice by Hal Gill and tripped Gill in retaliation. Lecavalier got two minutes for tripping and two for arguing with Marouelli.
"I did deserve a penalty," Lecavalier said. "But he saw right before that the cross-check he gave me."
Pollock called Lecavalier for diving in the third after he was hooked by Gill behind the Bruins net.
"His stick poked my knee," Lecavalier said. "I was around him. Why would I want to go down?"
A RECORD PACE: Brad Richards' 189th assist tied Brian Bradley for the franchise record. But Richards, who has 49 assists and entered the game fifth in the league, did not want congratulations.
"We lost, blew a 3-0 lead," he said. "That's the most frustrating thing."
ODDS AND ENDS: Taylor's assist on Dave Andreychuk's goal was his 14th and tied a career high. ... Pavel Kubina's 16th goal tied Roman Hamrlik for the Lightning record for defensemen and tied Ottawa's Wade Redden for the league lead. ... Modin's 111 Lightning goals tied Bradley for second. ... Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft gave up more than three goals for the first time since Dec. 27, when the Lightning beat him 4-2. ... Defensemen Nolan Pratt and Darren Rumble and right wing Ben Clymer were scratched.
