The equation was easy for the Bruins. Beat the Tampa Bay Lightning and they would clinch a playoff spot.

No dice.

The B’s coughed up a third period lead and then gave up a late goal to come away with nothing in a 2-1 loss on Saturday, their fifth straight loss.

With the game winding down, Casey Mittelstadt was stripped of the puck by Brayden Point along the boards. He came out into the middle of the ice and fired a shot that was tipped. That produced a rebound for Emil Lilleberg to tuck it past Jerremy Swayman for the 2-1 lead.

With Swayman pulled, Brandon Hagel took an interference penalty with 33.6 seconds left in regulation. But they couldn’t pull even and the quest for a playoff spot continued. If they don’t get any help, the B’s need two points out of their last two games against Columbus and New Jersey.

 

The first period was not what you’d call high event. There very few whistles in the whole 20 minutes.

The Bolts had the best scoring chance when Yanni Gourde found Gage Goncalves all alone in the slot. Goncalves circled in front of Jeremy Swayman and got the goalie down, but he ran out of ice and Swayman, on his belly, clamped down on Goncalves bank attempt.

The B’s first best chance came early in the second period. The fourth line had won a couple of battles down low and the puck went out to a wide-open Andrew Peeke up a the right point. He took a few steps down and fired a shot that produced a big rebound off Andrei Vasilevskiy. It went to Mark Kastelic on the left side but he could not get it past a sprawling Vasilevskiy.

The B’s were starting to look a little tense. Viktor Arvidsson committed a terrible turnover in the defensive zone on which Swayman bailed him out.

But just when it looked like Tampa was going take over the game, the B’s struck. With Tampa pressuring in the Boston end, a loose puck came around to Charlie McAvoy. The defenseman a nice move to protect from a swooping in Anthony Cirelli and then sprung Morgan Geekie for a clean breakaway. Geekie, who had just blown up his 17-game goal-less streak with a hat trick in Carolina on Tuesday, beat Vasilevskiy clean over the glove for his 38th at 10:47.

The game was penalty-free until there was 59 seconds left in the second, and Tampa bailed out the B’s. Jonathan Aspirot, who was playing Nikita Kucherov tight, was called for tripping the Tampa superstar. But before Aspirot could take his seat in the penalty box, Charle-Edouard D’Astous came in and horse-collared Aspirot to the ice, drawing a roughing penalty and wiping out the Tampa power play.

Tampa got their first power play when Elias Lindholm was called for holding. They did a good job of killing it off. Fraser Minten also had a good shorthanded bid he could not convert.

But at 6:37, a mental mistake led to Tampa equalizer. With the B’s pressing, Aspirot was caught bunched over with Charlie McAvoy on the right side, allowing Goncalves to spring Brandon Hagel for a breakaway. Hagel’s shot broke through Swayman and just trickled through his pads to even it up.

With the Bolts’ hopes of home-ice in the first round motivation for the visitors and the B’s wanting to nail down their playoff spot, the game was tense down the stretch.

The B’s, who did not have a power play, should have got one with 2:44 left when D’Astous caught Sean Kuraly with a high stick but it was not called.