BOSTON – One bounce broke two ties and put the Boston Bruins alone in second place in the Eastern Conference standings.

And with a seven-game win streak, first place in the East could be next for the Bruins.

Milan Lucic scored the go-ahead goal with 3:42 left Thursday night, capitalizing on a lucky bounce, and the Bruins broke a tie for second place in the East with Tampa Bay and extended their streak with a 2-1 victory against the Lightning.

Lucic avoided a pileup in front and was in just the right place when the puck deflected off an official’s skate to Lucic, who just had to get it over a mess of bodies for the winner.

“I was just trying to look for the loose puck because there were enough guys in front of the net,” said Lucic, who scored his 28th of the season. “I knew there was no real reason for me to get in there but just kind of wait around, see if something popped out and it did.”

The Bruins and Lightning entered the game with 37-19-7 records. The Bruins pulled a game ahead and clinched the tiebreaker with a 3-1 series win over the Lightning, who lead the Southeast Division. Boston is three points behind Eastern-leading Philadelphia, which lost at home to Toronto.

Tim Thomas had 27 saves for the Bruins, who have yielded five goals in their last five games.

Steven Kampfer also scored for the Bruins, who were home after going unbeaten on a six-game trip.

Coach Claude Julien said the Bruins have been playing with more patience, which led to tight defense and clutch scoring.

“Let’s not focus so much on the end result more than what we have to do to get it. Our guys were ready to do what we had to do,” Julien said. “I think the fact that we’re a physical team certainly gave us a little more space as well.”

Tampa Bay leads the Southeast despite back-to-back 2-1 losses. The Lightning lost by the same score Wednesday at New Jersey and couldn’t capitalize on a strong comeback night by goalie Mike Smith, making his first start since December.

Smith, who has been rehabilitating a knee injury, stopped 26 shots for the Lightning, who were also without injured captain Vincent Lecavalier.

“The guys are gassed and we hung on. We hung on,” Coach Guy Boucher said. “It’s very difficult to accept that we don’t deserve one point. We deserved one point (Wednesday). We deserved one point tonight; that would have been four points out of six on a tough road trip, so it didn’t turn our way.”

Eric Brewer scored for Tampa Bay, which will be home Saturday against Montreal.

Smith was making his first start in Boston since Dec. 2, when he was pulled after allowing five goals on 22 shots in an 8-1 loss. Smith was sharp this time, stopping several point-blank shots and keeping the Bruins from breaking the tie until Lucic scored.

Lucic started the play with a centering pass to Nathan Horton, who was leveled right away as the pileup began. Tampa Bay never got control of the puck, which drifted right to Lucic.