BOSTON — Bruins management gave its strongest message it could on Friday it was now planning for the future. But somehow that message went over the head of the collection of players that now constitute the Bruins.

Facing a hot Tampa Bay Lightning team very much in the hunt for the Atlantic Division and home ice advantage in the first round, the Bruins were the better team all day and left Amelie Arena with a 4-0 win on Cole Koepke’s two goals and Jeremy Swayman’s 27-save shutout, his fourth of the season.

The win doesn’t help the team’s draft position and quest for a high draft pick, but it wasn’t bad for the organizational esprit de corps after Friday’s tumultuous day. It also puts them just two points out of a wild-card spot, though there are four teams ahead of them with games in hand.

Swayman looked both back at what had been but also forward to the club’s future.

“(The departed players) laid the groundwork here and it’s never going to be the same without them but it has be up to us who’ve been here with them to continue the legacy, understand the next-man-up mentality and make them proud — by the way we play, the way we compete,” Swayman told ABC. “It’ just so good to see the guys who came in today … what a seamless transition and they know the spot we’re in. I’m really excited for the group that we have and miss the hell out of the guys who aren’t here anymore.”

When the puck dropped, Bruins fans needed a program to know exactly who was whom. Casey Middlestadt, Marat Khusnutdinov, Henri Jokiharju made their Bruin debuts and Jakub Lauko started his second tour of black and gold duty. It was a shock to the system.

In a walkoff interview with ABC, David Pastrnak – the only player wearing an A for the Bruins on Saturday – called Friday a “tough day” and reached out to his now former teammates Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo.

“It’s the first thing you do when you hear the news. It was very sad, emotional and I know it’s the worst part of the business that we are in. It hurts to lose not only unbelievable players and leaders, but really good friends,” Pastrnak said.

But a couple of the newbies helped with the win. Middlestadt had the primary assist on Koepke’s first goal, which held up as the game-winner, and the pairing of Jokiharju-Nikita Zadorov had a strong shutdown game.

And the B’s certainly didn’t play like sad sacks in the first period. The new-look roster had a lot of jump in the scoreless first period and the Lightning looked like a team that thought the game was going to be a gimme.

The B’s couldn’t beat Andrei Vasilevskiy in the opening 20 minutes, but one Bruin did gain some satisfaction. Mark Kastelic had been concussed earlier in the season in Tampa in a fight with Emil Lilleberg after the Bolt player had first crosschecked Kastelic in the face and then bounced his head off the ice. In Saturday’s bout, Lilleberg tried to wrestle Kastelic to the ice again but was unable to and Kastelic landed a handful of good shots before the linesmen ended it.

Kastelic was given the extra two for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the B’s killed it off.

The B’s took the lead at 10:32 of the second period on a goal from the new State of Hockey line. Middlestadt picked off a pass out high and fed a rushing Koepke. He made a nice move to tuck it between the netminder’s pads, but it hit Vasilevskiy’s leg and sat in the crease. Vinni Lettiieri took a couple of whacks at it and while he never touched it, he forced the Tampa defender to knock it in, making it the former Lightning Koepke’s goal.

The Bolts had their chances to tie it late in the second. Swayman made a great glove save on Brandon Hagel and then, with 22 seconds left in the period, newly acquired Oliver Bjorkstrand clanged the post and the B’s got into the room with a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Tampa looked like it had the equalizer when a loose puck rolled to Hagel at the top of the crease, where it looked like he had an easy goal. But a sprawling Swayman got his paddle on Hagel’s low shot and it hit the crossbar.

Then, with 6:44 left in the third, the B’s got the kind of gift that’s eluded them much of the season. After Vasilevskiy came out to play the puck behind his net, it came out to the neutral zone. As the netminder made his lackadaisical way back into into his crease, Kastelic fired it toward the net. It bounced off the shaft of Darren Raddysh’s stick and through the upright Vasilevskiy.

Signaling his desperation, Tampa coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy for the extra skater with 5:45 left in the third, but Nikita Zadorov scored a long distance empty-netter to seal it.

Pastrnak later set up Koepke for his second on a 2-on-1. And the new era of Bruins hockey, whatever that turns out to be, began with a victory.

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