Kessel takes charge

For his entire playing career, Phil Kessel has shown natural offense and goal-scoring instincts that can break games open.

The 19-year-old rookie, once projected as the No. 1 pick of the 2006 draft, has been plagued by a bugaboo that's followed him to the NHL: defensive indifference.

On Tuesday, it got to a point where coach Dave Lewis slashed his ice time against the Toronto Maple Leafs, aiming to alert the centerman to the two-way responsibilities he'll need to acquire.

Last night before 11,150 at TD Banknorth Garden, it wasn't Kessel's defense that powered the Bruins to a 4-3 shootout victory. It was his wheels and hands, the assets that made him the No. 5 pick in the draft.

In the shootout, 12 skaters -- six from each side -- fired and were stymied by Tim Thomas and Marc Denis, the goalies who stared each other down in a who'll-blink-first showdown.

Kessel, with his helmet on backward like every other Bruin, sat on the bench and studied Denis. He thought. And when Lewis tapped him on the shoulder to be the seventh shooter, Kessel knew what he wanted to do.

Aim high.

Kessel did just that, steaming toward the net and snapping a neat wrister over Denis's glove. At the other end, after turning aside the first six Tampa Bay shooters, Thomas forced forward Ruslan Fedotenko to shoot wide of the net, giving a turned-away Lewis -- he watched all 12 previous shooters but stared at Zdeno Chara's helmet instead of tracking Kessel and Fedotenko -- the confirmation he needed.

"It certainly was music to my ears when it hit the glass," said Lewis of Fedotenko's shot.

Kessel's strike gave the Bruins 2 points on a night when they committed careless turnovers and were stretched by Tampa Bay's offensive system. But like he's done of late, Thomas (31 saves) walled up the net, making several spectacular stops, including a dive-to-his-right beauty on forward Martin St. Louis in the third period that kept it a 2-2 game.

"He's the reason why we were still in the game," Lewis said. "He made some fabulous saves."

Thomas couldn't do much on goals by St. Louis and Eric Perrin, his former teammates at the University of Vermont. In the first period, after Brad Boyes -- the right wing has scored a goal in each of the last three games -- gave Boston a 1-0 lead, Perrin stripped Andrew Alberts in the neutral zone and beat Thomas with a wide-open slapper, tying the score at 1-1.

Then it was St. Louis's turn, courtesy of a Brad Stuart turnover that put the puck on Perrin's stick. Perrin spotted St. Louis at the far post for an easy tap-in at 4:44 of the second period.

The Bruins responded when Patrice Bergeron, who assisted on Boyes's goal, kicked off a shorthanded rush. Chara sent a clearing pass that St. Louis, manning the left point, jumped to glove. But the puck bounced off St. Louis's glove to Bergeron, who accelerated into the offensive zone and passed to P.J. Axelsson. The left wing, who sat out Tuesday's game against Toronto because of illness, reached his stick as far as it would go and deflected a shot past Denis (22 saves), tying the score at 2-2.

In the third period, Glen Murray looked like he might be the goat. Murray sent a clearing pass that deflected off the skate of forward Vaclav Prospal, sending the puck skittering back into the Boston zone as the Bruins were rushing the other way. As Fedotenko fished the puck out of the right corner, linemate Vincent Lecavalier charged toward the net.

Fedotenko saw his teammate and fed Lecavalier the puck for an uncontested goal at 9:50.

Sixty-five seconds later, Murray redeemed himself.

The play started on the right-side wall in the Tampa Bay zone. Jason York, playing on two bum knees, pinched along the boards, dumping St. Louis and pushing the puck forward.

Tampa Bay defenseman Nolan Pratt found the puck, but he was stripped by Marc Savard. As Murray saw Savard steal the puck, he skated to his office: the top of the slot.

Savard dished a backhander to Murray, who fired the tying shot past Denis at 10:55.

"He wanted to score that goal," said Lewis. "He wanted to get that back."

During the shootout, Murray was one of six Bruins -- Marco Sturm, Bergeron, Savard, Boyes, and Petr Tenkrat were the others -- to miss against Denis.

But the Lightning netminder had no answer for Kessel.

"It was nice to get a goal like that," said Kessel, tabbed for his first crack in five shootouts this season. "If the team wins, that's what I'm happy about."

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at FShinzawa@globe.com.