BOSTON — David Pastrnak had his 12th career hat trick, scoring the tie-breaking goal with 4:10 left Thursday night to help the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 and move them ahead of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Entering the game one point behind the Lightning, Boston finished the night with 85 points — tied with Toronto for second in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay has 84 points, good for fourth.

Jeremy Swayman stopped 22 shots for the Bruins, who have won 12 of their last 14 games and are 25-9 since New Year’s Day.

Brandon Hagel and Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves for the Lightning.

Erik Haula assisted on all three of the Bruins’ goals — his first career three-assist game — as Pastrnak twice tied it after the Lightning took the lead. Trade deadline pickup Hampus Lindholm also had an assist in his Boston debut.

The Bruins had a four-minute man advantage on Erik Cernak’s high-sticking penalty 80 seconds into the game, but they didn’t get a single shot on goal.

And that wasn’t even their worst power play.

With about six minutes gone in the second, Tampa’s Mikhail Sergachev went off for high-sticking. But only the Lightning could capitalize, taking a 1-0 lead when Ondrej Palat fed the puck into the center to Brandon Hagel for the easy redirection into the net.

Hagel was one of Tampa Bay’s trade deadline pickups, along with Nick Paul, helping add size on offense. Lindholm made the stat sheet when he fed the puck to Haula, who made a long pass off the boards to set Pastrnak free for a breakaway midway through the game.

The Lightning retook the lead four minutes into the third when a rebound bounced around the middle before it popped out to Stamkos and he beat Swayman to make it 2-1.

But Pastrnak tied it again when Haula fought for it behind the net and poked it to the side. Pastrnak spun around, hit it with the back of his stick and squeezed it between Vasilevskiy’s pad and the post to make it 2-all.

NOTES: Patrice Bergeron was hoping to get medical clearance on Thursday morning after he had undergone a surgical procedure to address an infection in his elbow. He participated fully in Wednesday’s practice and the anticipation was that he’d get the clearance, but he did not.

“We got bad news on that one so he’s out,” said Coach Bruce Cassidy on Thursday morning. “It’s a bit of a curveball because leading into today, we thought he’d be cleared, but doctors felt otherwise so we’ll look at Saturday (against the Islanders).”

Bergeron said on Wednesday that the trouble began to flare up prior to last week’s game against Chicago and after that game, it was decided that he should head back home to Boston to get it taken care of. He missed the next three games in Minnesota, Winnipeg and Montreal, but he was skating on his own on Monday when the team was preparing to take on the Canadiens on trade deadline day. The Bruins dropped the first game against the Wild, but beat the Jets and the Canadiens.

Jack Studnicka again got the nod to skate between Brad Machand and Jake DeBrusk.

“We’re a team and (Bergeron’s) a big part of it. We know that. He wears the C, he plays in every situation. I don’t have to go into details about how much he means on the ice or off the ice for that matter,” said Cassidy. “But it’s business as usual once the puck drops. It’s an opportunity for someone else. I think Jack has been good in terms of his 200-foot game away from the puck. The offense should come if that continues. He’s with two good players. It’s a good opportunity now for him against a two-time defending Stanley Cup champion. That’s the way we look at it.

“And other guys will pick up the slack. We’ve seen that with (Charlie) Coyle and (Erik) Haula the other night. It’s been good for the other guys in the room to have the opportunity. That’s the positive, the flip side of it. We’ll keep on trucking here. It’s not long-term. We knew that going in. Now we’re looking at Saturday. Hopefully things calm down and he’s good to go then.”

• Cassidy decided to go back with the third pairing he’s been using for a while now, Derek Forbort with Connor Clifton. Clifton had a goal and an assist in the  3-2 overtime win in Montreal. Mike Reilly was to get the healthy scratch.

“They’ve been good as a pair,” said Cassidy. “Mike’s been fine as well. It’s not an easy decision in terms of merit. I’s a good problem to have in that regard. It’s tough for Mike. It’s one game. We’re going to get everyone involved and we’ll go from there.”

• Asked for his advertising pitch for his new cereal March Munch, Marchand gave his widest impish grin.

“It’s face-licking good,” said Marchand. “Can I say that? If I can’t, I’m sorry.”

Marchand, of course, caused a big stir in the 2018 playoffs when he licked the face of now retired Lightning player Ryan Callahan.

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