Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara in giving mood

The Bruins honored captain Zdeno Chara in a pregame, on-ice ceremony last night for playing in his 1,000th career game Saturday in Los Angeles.

Chara received a crystal trophy, a rather large portrait of himself, a gift certificate for a stay at any hotel in the world, and a silver stick that's an exact replica of the 65-inch Easton he wields.

Then the big defenseman went out and handed out a few gifts of his own in his 1,002nd NHL appearance, namely three assists in the Bruins' 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Garden.

“It's always nice to get that recognition,” Chara said after recording the 11th three-point outing of his 14-year career. “I very much appreciated it. But when the ceremony is over, you have to focus on the game and be ready to play the whole 60 minutes.”

It was a game with playoff implications for both sides.

The Bruins increased their lead over second-place Ottawa in the Northeast Division to five points with six to play (and a game in hand) and moved four points ahead of Florida in the race for the second seed in the Eastern Conference.

It was the third straight win for the Bruins, who haven't had such prolonged success since reeling off seven straight in December. They'll look to remain on a roll when they host the Washington Capitals tomorrow night.

“The last month or so has been hard,” Chara said, downplaying an extended stretch that has the B's at 17-17-2 over their last 36 games. “But it seems like we're on the right track and we don't want to take any steps back right now.”

The injury-battered Lightning saw their three-game winning streak — and likely postseason hopes — come to an end after getting outshot, 38-18, and getting outscored, 3-0, over the final eight-plus minutes.

Shawn Thornton, Dennis Seidenberg, Benoit Pouliot, Brad Marchand and Rich Peverley scored for the Bruins. Pouliot got the winner, with 8:26 to play, after Steven Stamkos tied it up early in the third with his second strike of the game and league-leading 55th of the season.

Pouliot fired into an open net from out front after Brian Rolston set him up with a wraparound feed. His 14th of the season and second in as many games came after a discussion among the officials.

“I still don't know why they were discussing it,” Pouliot said.

Marchand snapped a shot past Dwayne Roloson (33 saves) into the top left corner four minutes later to double the advantage before Peverley added an empty-netter with 6.8 seconds to play.

Tim Thomas, playing for the 24th time in the last 27 games, made 16 saves and was also aided by the iron on two occasions. He robbed Stamkos, still only 22 years old, twice in the final 10 minutes.

Looking for a downer? That would be the power play, which was 0 for 5 with a total of eight shots.

The Bruins are 4 for 40 (.100) with the man advantage over the last 16 games.

Tampa Bay was 1 for 3 on the power play, all three of their opportunities coming on very questionable calls.