Lukas Reichel sat out while Marco Sturm chased a spark, and the Bruins got nothing from the move in Tampa.

By the next morning, that much was obvious.

Boston lost 3-1, and a game it led in the second period turned into another road miss by the final horn.

Sturm went looking for answers after the flat loss to Florida, and his lineup card changed fast.

Reichel was scratched, Mikey Eyssimont returned, and Jordan Harris jumped in over Mason Lohrei and Henri Jokiharju.

The forward lines got shaken too. David Pastrnak skated with Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten, while Eyssimont landed beside Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie.

That kind of shuffle is supposed to change the pace, especially on a road trip when a bench needs life. Instead, the Bruins finished with 22 shots and never found a second goal.

Casey Mittelstadt gave them a start with his 15th goal at 6:47 of the second period. Viktor Arvidsson and Pavel Zacha did the setup work, and for a stretch Boston looked settled.

The changes never pushed the game

Then it flipped. Charle-Edouard D'Astous tied it at 2:13 of the third, Darren Raddysh put Tampa ahead at 14:29, and Nikita Kucherov buried the empty-netter at 18:27.

Jeremy Swayman gave Boston a chance with 20 saves. This one wasn't about the crease falling apart.

It was about a new-look lineup that never drove play for long enough. Pastrnak's line had flashes, Minten had a couple of late looks, and Eyssimont's return brought energy, but none of it changed the result.

The number that sticks is 69.0%. Boston owned the faceoff circle and still got pushed aside when the game tightened in the third.

That puts the spotlight right back on Sturm. Scratching Reichel was a statement move, yet the Bruins still went quiet after the Mittelstadt goal and looked like a team searching for chemistry instead of dictating play.

The standings only sharpen the frustration.

Boston dropped to 43-25-8, Tampa climbed to 47-22-6, and the Lightning now own a 3-0 edge in the season series.

So the next-morning takeaway is simple. Sturm changed the lines, changed the extras, changed the look of the bench, and none of it held up when the game was there to win.