St. Louis already has won the award twice (2010, ’11), and was a finalist two other times. The 37-year-old ranked second among NHL forwards in total ice time, but was assessed just 14 penalty minutes.

Moulson is a finalist for the second straight season. He had four penalty minutes in 47 games, tied with San Jose’s Logan Couture for the fewest among the NHL’s top 50 scorers.

Kane is a Lady Byng finalist for the first time, after helping Chicago to a Presidents’ Trophy. He played 47 games and averaged 20:03 of ice time, but had just eight penalty minutes.

“Any time you’re up for an award, it’s exciting,” Kane said Thursday. “I thought maybe I had a chance at this one. I think it kind of speaks volumes of where my game has gone since my rookie season. I remember I used to take a lot of penalties that were kind of unnecessary and I kind of got that out of my game a little bit. I’m definitely happy about it. It’s an honor, for sure.”

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And with the way goalie Tuukka Rask has played lately, the Bruins want to start the postseason as soon as possible.

Rask stopped 30 shots for Boston in a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay on Thursday night, shutting down the NHL’s top two scorers and keeping Boston in control of the tight race for the Northeast Division title.

It was the second shutout in as many starts for Rask, who seems comfortable and confident just when Boston needs it most.

“At the end of the day, a goaltender plays a big role in your success. In a game like tonight, if we don’t have good goaltending and we get a breakdown the puck will be in the back of your net,” Boston coach Claude Julien said. “You need a guy to stand tall and be good, and you need a guy that goes into the playoffs with confidence and hopefully that’s what Tuukka’s creating here.”

It hasn’t even been a week since Julien was openly critical of Rask after the Bruins 3-2′ loss to the Penguins in Boston on Saturday. The Penguins scored a pair of power-play goals over four minutes in the third period to break open what had been a 1-1 tie.

Rask was just as critical, saying he had cost the Bruins the game. He was back in the net Sunday and made 28 saves in a 3-0 win over Florida, although few of the Panthers’ shots appeared to be much of a challenge.

The Lightning were a much greater threat as Martin St. Louis entered the game leading the NHL with 58 points and teammate Steven Stamkos in a tie for second with 56.

Both had great scoring chances that Rask grabbed out of the air with his glove.

“You just kind of throw yourself out there,” Rask said. “For me, I get a better feeling when I’m just square and the puck hits me and I don’t give up rebounds. It’s pretty easy to get carried away when you make highlight saves, so you just try to stay calm after you make a save like that.”

Rask remained calm throughout and was the main reason Boston won the game despite being outshot by the Lightning 30-24.

“You think he doesn’t have it and his glove’s right there,” said Daniel Paille, whose goal late in the second period gave Boston a 2-0 lead that held through the third. “He read a lot of plays tonight and he talked all night. That was good to see.”

The Bruins and Canadiens are tied with 61 points, but Boston has two games remaining while Montreal has only one. The Canadiens finish their season at Toronto on Saturday. Boston plays at Washington on Saturday and finishes at home against Ottawa in the regular-season finale on Sunday.

Dennis Seidenberg also scored for the Bruins, breaking a scoreless tie early in the second period for his third goal of the season. Paille added a goal toward the end of the period and that was more than enough for Rask.

St. Louis had a chance to pull Tampa Bay within 2-1 with 4:33 left in the third with a sharp wrist shot that Rask stretched to grab with his glove. Rask caught a break a couple of minutes later when Tom Pyatt nearly beat him with a shot that clanged off the post and bounced back in front through Rask’s pads.

The puck could easily have rebounded right back into the net and given the Lightning a chance to tie in the closing minutes, but Rask’s luck held and he picked up his fifth shutout of the season.

“When a goalie starts getting confidence, good things can happen — especially in this league. I feel for our guys,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I think, truthfully, we may have made less mistakes than the Bruins but we couldn’t bury our chances.”

Anders Lindback had 22 saves for the Lightning.

The Bruins were sluggish early and were outshot 9-4 in the first period, but Rask kept the Lightning out of the net, then Seidenberg scored 4:22 into the second period. Brad Marchand carried the puck up the ice, skated across the Lightning zone and fed Seidenberg for a slap shot from the point that Lindback couldn’t see through the traffic.

Paille put Boston up 2-0 on a one-timer off a circle-to-circle pass from Gregory Campbell that left Lindback helplessly lunging to get from one post to the other as Paille scored his 10th goal of the season.

Long since eliminated from playoff contention, the Lightning appeared determined not to leave Boston without getting in a few shots before the end of the season. Former Bruins forward Benoit Pouliot took on Boston defenseman Andrew Ference in an extended bout with six minutes remaining in the first period.

Next up were Boston’s Milan Lucic and Keith Aulie, who matched punches until Lucic landed three straight shots that sent Aulie slumping to the ice late in the second.

Game notes

The game was originally scheduled for Feb. 9, but postponed because of the blizzard that shut down the Northeast and left more than 2 feet of snow in some areas. … Tampa Bay’s only penalties in the first two periods were the fighting majors to Pouliot and Aulie. … The Bruins swept the three games against the Lightning in the lockout-shortened season.

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Tlusty scored twice, Semin had a goal and two assists and Staal chipped in with a pair of assists — all in the first period — to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.

Dan Ellis stopped 34 shots to make a 3-0 lead stand up and help Carolina to its first win over Tampa Bay this season.

“We came out hard, and that was the difference in the first period,” Tlusty said. “We kept it going throughout the game.”

Semin scored for Carolina 16 seconds in, taking a feed in the slot from Staal and whipping it over the shoulder of Lightning goalie Anders Lindback.

Tlusty’s first goal came shortly after the Hurricanes failed to score on a power play when he dumped the puck on goal from inside the blue line and it bounced off of Lindback’s pads and into the back of the net.

Later in the period, Tlusty was stationed in front of the net and was in the perfect position to direct a deflection off of Staal’s shot past Lindback.

“I don’t know what the problem is with us in first periods,” said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. “We always battle back hard from being down in games, which is the good part, but we would rather be up a few goals in the first instead of behind.”

The Lightning, who lost their sixth straight game, got on the board with a power-play goal from Steven Stamkos in the second period — his 28th goal of the season.

Martin St. Louis added a third-period goal to narrow the deficit to 3-2 but Ellis turned away the final 12 shots he faced, including point-blank opportunities by Eric Brewer, Ryan Malone and B.J. Crombeen.

“(Ellis) stepped up and had a good, strong game,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. “That’s what you need from him. His performance was good.

“They’ve had our number recently, but I think it was just important to us because we had a tough game last night and the guys have been playing so hard through the stretch. We got off track last night and we wanted to get back on track tonight and do the right things and we did.”

With less than 20 seconds left, the Lightning pulled Lindback and created a lot of traffic in front of Ellis but could not tie the game.

“I have gotten lit up by this team forever so this was a good night,” Ellis said. “They play with a lot of pride and so do we. We are not pushing for playoff spots but we are pushing to honor our fans, honor the crest on our jersey.”

St. Louis got his league-leading 42nd assist on Stamkos’ goal and his 55 points are only one behind injured Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby for the league lead.

Game notes

Staal thought he had a goal in the second period but officials declared his shot deflected off Brewer’s skate but did not completely cross the goal line. A video review upheld the call. … In their previous four contests this season, the Lightning outscored the Hurricanes 18-4. … Semin has 31 assists this season. … The Lightning outshot the Hurricanes 16-4 in the third period.

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Philadelphia Flyers at Tampa Bay
When: 6:00 PM ET, Sunday, January 27, 2013
Where: Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
TV: 6 p.m. ET, CSN (Philadelphia), SunSports (Tampa).
Prediction: Lightning 5, Flyers 3

Oddsmakers currently have the Lightning listed as 116-moneyline favorites versus the Flyers, while the game’s total is sitting at 6.

Philadelphia, which was second in the league in scoring a season ago, finally got its offense cranked up. Matt Read registered his first career hat trick and Ruslan Fedotenko had a goal and an assist for his first points in his second stint with the Flyers. Captain Claude Giroux is the go-to player for the Flyers and he delivered his first multiple-point game of the season with a pair of assists. Philadelphia can’t expect to produce seven goals every night. The Flyers will need their defense to come together. Blue-liner Luke Schenn had 11 hits against Florida and is plus-3 thus far. Ilya Bryzgalov has played every game this season.

Last time out for Philadelphia, they were a 7-1 winner as they battled the Panthers on the road. Moneyline bettors who got the Flyers at -108 were rewarded, while the 8 combined goals moved the game OVER for totals bettors.

Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 16-2 in the first and third periods combined, while getting swamped in the second, 10-3. The Lightning have made a bad habit of getting away from their relentless style in the middle frame. The Lightning have also surrendered an average of 36.5 shots, close to the most in the league. Their key performers are putting up numbers, especially in the third – led by Steven Stamkos (two goals, six assists) and Martin St. Louis (three, four). Rookie Cory Conacher has at least a point in every game and seven in all. Anders Lindback (.900 save percentage) is expected back in net.

The Lightning were a 6-4 winner in their most recent outing at home against the Senators. That made winners of bettors who got Tampa Bay at -125 on the moneyline, while the total score (10) was good news for OVER bettors.

Tampa Bay:
Team record: 3-1-0 SU, ATS
Current streak: won 2 straight games.

is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games at home

When playing on Sunday are 5-5
Before playing St. Louis are 3-7
After playing Ottawa are 4-6
After a win are 5-5

Philadelphia:
Team record: 2-3-0 SU, ATS
Current streak: won 2 straight games.

The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games when playing Tampa Bay
The total has gone OVER in 5 of last 7 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of last 6 games

When playing on Sunday are 1-9
Before playing Tampa Bay are 9-1
After playing Florida are 5-5
After a win are 4-6

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