We’re not going to go in depth with today’s recap. The Tampa Bay Lightning, fresh off learning they had clinched a playoff spot last night, started slowly, battled back in the third period, before losing 5-4 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The loss snapped their 7-game road points streak and kept the Penguins playoff hopes alive.
[Game Center] [Natural Stat Trick] [Event Summary] [Lines]
For the Lightning, their hottest goal scores kept scoring as Steven Stamkos potted two goals and Nick Paul stretched his goal-scoring streak to a career-high three games. Anthony Duclair found the back of the net for the first time in five games while Nikita Kucherov made it three games in a row with three points. Victor Hedman cracked the 60-assist mark as he had three helpers as well. Andrei Vasilevskiy was sharp in the first period, making 13 saves on 14 shots, but Pittsburgh got to him for 4 goals on 14 shots over the last two minutes.
For Pittsburgh the goal scorers were Sidney Crosby (who hit the 40-goal mark for just the third time in his career) and Evgeni Malkin, whose parents were in town to watch him play live for the first time since the pandemic, had two tallies to give him 29 in 46 career games against the Lightning. Kris Letang had a goal while the pest known as Michael Bunting had the game-winner with roughly five-and-a-half minutes to go in the game. Alex Nedeljkovic had 30 saves on 34 shots for his fourth win a row.
It wasn’t the sharpest two periods for the Lightning to start the game, which one might expect for a team that clinched a playoff spot against a team that basically needs to win out in order to make the postseason. The Bolts were also without the services of Tanner Jeannot and Anthony Cirelli, both who are officially day-to-day. However, they found their game in the third period, scoring three times in under eleven minutes to make it a game. The power play went 2-for-4 with Stamkos scoring both goals, while the penalty kill was a perfect 2-for-2.
The Bolts will be off for two days before taking the ice at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. That game kicks off a final stretch of games where the Lightning will be playing every other day as they get ready for the post season.
The Goals
Sidney Crosby (40) [Bryan Rust, Erik Karlsson] 1-0 Pittsburgh
Evgeni Malkin (24) [Erik Karlsson, Michael Bunting] 2-0 Pittsburgh
Steven Stamkos (35) [Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov] Power Play, 2-1 Pittsburgh
Kris Letang (9) [unassisted] 3-1 Pittsburgh
Evgeni Malkin (25) [Michael Bunting] 4-1 Pittsburgh
Nick Paul (23) [Mikey Eyssimont, Mitchell Chaffee] 4-2 Pittsburgh
Anthony Duclair (22) [Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman] 4-3 Pittsburgh
Steven Stamkos (36) [Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov] Power Play, 4-4
Michael Bunting (18) [Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson] 5-4 Pittsburgh
