Boston Bruins left wing Jake DeBrusk (74) celebrates with the bench after scoring against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Brad Marchand and the NHL-leading Boston Bruins took a big stride toward winning the Atlantic Division with a 2-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

Marchand and Jake DeBrusk scored for the Bruins, who opened a nine-point cushion over second-place Tampa Bay in the division standings with 15 games remaining in the regular season.

Tukka Rask made 20 saves for Boston, which has won three straight and eight of 10.

Mitchell Stephens scored for Tampa Bay, which has lost five of the past six in regulation. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots.

The Bruins took advantage of an icing call to grab the lead late in the first period as Boston coach Bruce Cassidy was able to get his top line out against Tampa Bay’s fourth line.

Patrice Bergeron won the faceoff from Cedric Paquette and 18 seconds later Torey Krug found Marchand cutting through the left circle with a step on Mikhail Sergachev. Marchand tapped the puck past Vasilevskiy with 54.7 seconds left in the period.

The Bruins visit the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

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