Pens hang on to beat Lightning
TAMPA – Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby both scored their second goals on third-period power plays, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins rally to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 Saturday night.
It was the first meeting between the teams since the Stanley Cup champion Penguins beat Tampa Bay in a seven-game Eastern Conference final last season.
Pittsburgh, which won its fifth straight game, got three assists each from Phil Kessel and Kris Letang. The Penguins are 6-6-1 when trailing after two periods.
Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Drouin had the first of his two goals shortly after getting cut by a high-stick. Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lightning, who are 1-6-1 over their last eight games.
Matt Murray made 20 saves for the Penguins, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots for Tampa Bay.
After Crosby pulled the Penguins even at 3 with his 20th goal at 5:08 of the third, Malkin’s right-circle shot with 11:24 left gave Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead.
Malkin has 111 power-play goals, which moved him past Jaromir Jagr (110) and Kevin Stevens (110) into second on the Pittsburgh career list. Mario Lemieux tops the list with 236.
Tampa Bay got a 4-minute power play late in the first after Drouin was cut below the left eye by a high-stick by Malkin. Drouin returned soon after and tied it at 1 from the left circle with 2:03 left.
Drouin put the Lightning up 3-1 midway through the second by lifting a back-hander past Murray.
Murray made a terrific glove save along the goal line on Filppula in the third.
Crosby opened the scoring 12:03 into the game, diving toward a loose put and putting it past Vasilevskiy.
Crosby has a goal in three straight games and a seven-game point streak (six goals, 12 points).
Crosby appeared to get shaken up by Luke Witkowski’s check with eight minutes to go in the first but returned for the start of the second period.
Pittsburgh has outscored opponents 39-17 in the third period. … Malkin has a 13-game point streak against Tampa Bay (15 goals, 30 points). … Lightning RW Ryan Callahan missed his sixth straight game. He has played in just 15 games since offseason hip surgery.
Penguins: Play Arizona on Monday night in the first of three straight games at home.
Lightning: Start a three-game trip Wednesday night at Calgary.