Given the Bruins' 7-1-0 road record entering Monday, one would think it would take a lot for a team to defeat them away from TD Garden. Luckily for the Lightning, the B's didn't give a lot in a 3-1 loss Monday night. Not 60 minutes' worth, at least. 

The Bruins came out flat (something that's had to be said a little too often on the young season) and put just 15 shots on Lightning netminder Mike Smith through the first two periods before nearly doubling it in the third period with a respectable 12 shots. Only one went past Smith, a Michael Ryder tip-in, and the B's finished the first leg of their two-game trip to Florida as the losing team.

For two periods, the Bruins struggled to match the pace of the Lightning, and it showed. While Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis built on their gaudy stats this season, the B's top line was nonexistent, with Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin seemingly the bright spots until Ryder and the third line manufactured the B's only goal at 10:38 of the third.

The loss was the most recent example that the Bruins, for one reason or another, are just a better (and more offensively potent, see the alarming numbers below) team when they're playing in front of Tim Thomas. 

Here is the Hat Trick of lessons learned in a loss in Tampa:

TUUKKA RASK A VICTIM? YOU DON'T SAY

It was refreshing for everybody to see Tuukka Rask rewarded with his first victory of the season on Saturday, and it was a bit ironic that it was on the night he turned in a shutout that the B's scored in front of him. After all, the four goals scored in front of Rask were the most they've given him in a game all season. The second-most? That period that he played on Nov. 5 in relief of Thomas, when the B's scored three. 

Aside from those two games, Rask's been like a starting pitcher with poor run support, and has seen good starts wasted. Monday was the most recent example, as he faced 36 shots and really cranked it up after a three-goal second period. Still, he received another one in the loss column for his efforts, and Rask now stands at 1-5-1 on the season.

In six Rask starts this season, the Bruins have scored an average of 1.83 goals per game. If you add in the period he played in Washington, they've given him 2.21 goals. The latter number is worse than the lowest-scoring teams in every post-lockout season. 

When Tim Thomas plays, so too do the Bruins. With Thomas between the pipes (12 full games and the two periods in Washington), the Bruins have averaged 3.23 goals per game. They may not have a preference regarding who they play in front of, but the scoreboard and record (10-2-1 in Thomas starts -- though Rask got the loss in the aforementioned Washington game -- and 1-4-1 in Rask starts) beg to differ.

JUST ANOTHER GLIMPSE OF WHAT THE BRUINS MIGHT HAVE

First, Tyler Seguin was on the third line. Then he was on the third line but getting fourth-line minutes. From there, the Bruins moved him to the actual fourth line before returning him to the third line. Monday was his debut on the second line. 

Confused? You shouldn't be. 

Seguin was a victim of circumstance in his days as a center this season. With the Bruins not certain they had a capable pivot in Blake Wheeler (and not being forced to realize it until Krejci went down on Nov. 6 with a concussion), Seguin had to face the challenge of being an 18-year-old center NHL while also getting limited minutes. 

Now that Krejci is back and Wheeler is sticking at center, the Bruins have the opportunity to use Seguin at wing, something they did Saturday night. Yet it wasn't until Monday until they made a move that can really get the most out of his talents, swapping him and the struggling Jordan Caron to make Seguin the second line's left wing. 

The results after a game were solid. Though Seguin was a minus-1 on the night (half of the Bruins' skaters had negative ratings), the rest of the numbers (aside from points, of course) were up. His four shots on goal were second only to new linemate Patrice Bergeron and his 13:55 of ice time was the most he's had in his last 10 games. 

Though the Bruins' didn't get a reminder of what they have in Seguin as blatant as his goal last week in New York, they at the very least had a chance to dream on what he could become by looking at the opposition. The comparisons between Seguin and Stamkos have been ubiquitous in the hockey world given that they're a couple of right-handed 6-foot-1 centers from Ontario who lit up the OHL and were chosen high in the draft (Stamkos was taken first in 2008, while Seguin was chosen second in 2010).

Naturally, the Bruins shouldn't expect Seguin to match Stamkos' ridiculous production this year (the 20-year-old is on pace for 78 goals this season after scoring 20 through his first 21 game), but if the B's can watch Seguin's numbers grow through the years to anything slightly resembling those of Stamkos, they should consider themselves more than fortunate. 

THE SHOOTING BUG SPREADS

For a couple of first-liners, Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic haven't gotten the puck on net as they may have liked. They've had their big nights shots-wise, like Horton's eight on Nov. 6, and they've had their nights where they haven't registered a single shot on goal. Unfortunately for the top line, the two experienced the latter on the same night. 

It was so bad that the Lucic - David Krejci - Horton line had zero shots on Smith more than halfway through the third period. Krejci eventually got a puck on net in the final minutes of the game, and the St. Pete Times Forum predictably did not have streamers to commemorate the play.

Horton's eight shots in that game against the Blues help give him a shots on goal total (41) that could deceive one into thinking he isn't a guy who struggles to put pucks on net consistently. Counting the Blues game, he's averaged 2.15 shots on goal per game, better than Lucic's 1.78 but a more than half a goal worse than Krejci's 2.76. Excluding the eight-shot outburst, Horton's shots on goal per game is 1.83.

After 19 games, Zdeno Chara (57 shots, 3/game), Bergeron (48, 2.52/game) and Shawn Thornton (45, 2.36/game) lead the B's in shots on goal.