“They suck,” head coach Claude Julien said last week in regards to the shootout after the Bruins dropped their seventh straight shootout. “They suck, yeah, that’s my version of shootouts.”

After 65 minutes wasn’t enough to decide a winner between the Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, the Bruins found themselves right back in the shootout exactly one week since their last shootout loss.

Heading into Thursday’s shootout, the Bruins and Lightning were tied with the Los Angeles Kings for last in the league with two shootout wins. Scoring just six times on 46 attempts, the B’s knew they needed to put the puck in the net and earn a very important second point.

Behind shootout goals by Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, the Bruins did just that.

“Yeah, we did a good job shooting into the net,” said Bruins’ goalie Tuukka Rask who made 37 saves for the win. “You’re going to give yourself a better chance to score when you hit the net.”

After securing wins in their first two shootouts of the 2014-15 season, the Bruins proceeded to drop their next seven before beating the Lightning at TD Garden.

“Yeah it’s very nice to finally get a win in the shootout” Marchand said after clinching the game with his goal in the third round of the shootout. “We felt different, we probably had confidence and guys were calm and prepared going into their shots so it was good.”

With the season winding down and points at a premium, the Bruins know that every point is extremely important and that a couple of shootout losses could be costly once the regular season ends.

Just ask the New Jersey Devils how important shootouts are. Missing the playoffs by five points a season ago, the Devils were an atrocious 0-13 in the gimmick that is known as the shootout.

“Yeah sure, that’s definitely something that we have to be better at and tonight was definitely a big point for us to get in that shootout,” said Bergeron.

When it comes to the shootout, each coach has a different strategy. Some might send out their three best players, while others may go with the hot hand. After sending out Bergeron, rookie David Pastrnak and Marchand, Julien explained the reasoning for his shootout trio.

“Well, you know, tonight was mostly, again, looking at what their goaltender was all about – his strengths and his weaknesses – and our guys knew about that. You look at some of the players and I think Bergy right now is pretty confident with his scoring ability, so we had him lead the way,” Julien said.

“Dave is a dangerous guy and has had success against this goaltender so far this year. So, he missed – he was another good candidate, and then Marshy, another guy who’s a great shooter and has that quick release. So tonight it happened to work out.”

After tossing his broken stick into the stands at the end of overtime, Lightning sniper Steven Stamkos was issued an 10-minute misconduct — making him ineligible for the shootout. Stamkos’ mistake certainly benefited the Bruins.

Going around the Bruins’ dressing room, the theme was common. No one really likes the shootout. As the National Hockey League’s General Managers are set to meet next week in Florida for the annual General Manager’s meetings, shootouts will be a hot topic.

On Boston.com: 3-on-3 OT a sign of things to come?

A possibility as a replacement for the shootout may be the idea of three-on-three overtime, something that was seen Thursday night due to matching penalties to Chris Kelly and Alex Killorn.

The brief three-on-three play brought some excitement as the open ice opened the door for guys like Pastrknak to showcase their speed and raw talent.

Many of the Bruins who were asked were in favor of three-on-three overtime hockey.

“I’d rather do the three on three than have a shootout,” Marchand added. “I don’t know if its in place of that or not but I think it would allow for more goals and more opportunities.”

Despite the win in the shootout, when asked if shootouts still “suck” Julien didn’t want to be hypocritical.

“Yeah. I’m not hypocritical; I’m not going to pretend I like it,” the Bruins bench boss said. “I like the win, but I gave my opinion before.”