Even though a recent report saying the Boston Bruins are an un-unified team was already deemed baseless, Trent Frederic completely dispelled it with just a few punches.

Bruins forward Trent Frederic avenged Mark Kastelic on Tuesday by scrapping with the Tampa player who injured him, Emil Lilleberg.

David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and Parker Wotherspoon scored his first NHL goal to help the Boston Bruins open a four-goal lead and hold on to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2.

The Lightning played without their leading goal-scorer, top center Brayden Point, who was scratched for missing a team meeting prior to the morning skate. It forced the team to scramble just to get enough players to fill its roster, recalling 22-year-old forward Jack Finley from AHL Syracuse to make his NHL debut as the 12th forward.

Boston Bruins forward Mark Kastelic suffered an upper-body injury during the club's Jan. 9 contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning and has not played since. This was after he was cross-checked in the head by Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg. Kastelic also dropped the gloves with him following it.

Bruins forward Mark Kastelic was cross-checked in the mouth toward the end of last week's 4-1 loss to the Lightning in Tampa Bay ... Bruins forward Trent Frederic dropped the gloves for a fight ...

BOS 2, TBL 0 9:30 Parker Wotherspoon (1) - David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha Boston doubled its lead on defenseman Parker Wotherspoon’s first NHL goal. Boston forward David Pastrnak took the puck to the right faceoff circle before feeding the defenseman at the left circle, where the latter scored on his shot.

Under duress from Charlie Coyle, Victor Hedman lost the puck just inside his left point position and Poitras pounced on it, bursting up ice on a 2-on-1. He smartly waited out Nick Perbix’s belly-flop slide and made a pretty pass around the defenseman’s skates to Trent Frederic for a redirection at 4:24, Frederic’s seventh of the year.

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on X (Opens in new window) BOSTON — David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and Parker Wotherspoon scored his first NHL goal on ...

Kastelic certainly made some noise in his return, as the Bruins tough guy dropped the gloves with former Senators teammate Zack Ostapchuk. Ostapchuk had a solid start to the fight and landed some punches on Kastelic. However, Kastelic bounced back as the scrap continued and threw several hard rights before landing the takedown.

The Boston Bruins find themselves holding the second Eastern Conference wild card spot. Given the narrow gap, the margin for error is slim and there is a good chance they miss the playoffs.

The Maple Leafs need a centre and will try to get one before the March 7 NHL trade deadline. Who makes sense? Jonas and CJ weigh in.