Following a heartbreaking loss in New Jersey Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded with a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Lightning notched two empty-net goals in the third period, and the scoreboard doesn’t accurately tell the story of this game.
Tampa Bay’s Shooting Talent Gets the Job Done in Pittsburgh
The red-hot Penguin Rickard Rakell opened the scoring with his team-leading 22nd goal of the season 14:20 into the first period. The puck took two pinball-like bounces and hopped right onto the tape of Rakell with no Lightning players in front of the net to clear the Penguins’ forward.
After being shut out the night before, Pittsburgh came out flying in the first period with a 14-2 shot advantage but only a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard. The Lightning were lucky to remain in the game after a lopsided first period.
In the second period, the Lightning’s shooting talent came through clutch. Brandon Hagel scored a beautiful goal off the rush using a push-pull deke on the Pittsburgh defender to tie the score 6:54 into the second period. Later in the frame, Nikita Kucherov hammered a one-timer past Tristan Jarry off a nice feed from captain Victor Hedman. While the Penguins were ahead 25-9 in the shot department, the Lightning held a 2-1 lead after two periods.
The Penguins responded with a goal on the power play early in the third period from veteran Kevin Hayes. A loose puck in front of the net was banged home by Hayes for his seventh on the season. With roughly three minutes to go, Kucherov stole the puck from Pittsburgh forward Noel Acciari to bury a breakaway top shelf. Tampa Bay got two empty net goals from Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul to close the game in the final minutes.
The Lightning are back in action on Tuesday (Jan. 14) against the struggling Boston Bruins. Puck drop for that game is at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, the Penguins host the Seattle Kraken in their next game for a 7 p.m. puck drop on Tuesday.
3 Stars of the Game
- Nikita Kucherov (2 goals, 1 assist)
- Brandon Hagel (1 goal, 1 assist)
- Rickard Rakell (1 goal, 1 assist)
