The Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning met up for an early-week matchup, with the Lightning battling back from a multi-goal deficit in the third period before winning 3-2 in overtime. Tristan Jarry and Andrei Vasilevskiy played strong in between the pipes for their respective teams. With the win, the Lightning moved to 10-6-1, while the Penguins fell to 7-10-4 with the loss.
Game Recap
The Penguins mostly controlled the first 40 minutes of play. Even though the shot totals did not show it (22-15 Tampa Bay), the Penguins played possibly the most complete two periods they have played almost all season long. All four lines offensively gave Vasilevskiy and the Lightning defense problems throughout the first two periods. The Penguins were led by the third line of Jesse Puljujarvi, Drew O’Connor, and Sam Poulin. In the first period, Puljujarvi gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead thanks to a great pass from Marcus Pettersson back door to the former Edmonton Oiler for a tip-in goal behind Vasilevskiy. Thanks to the goal, the game would go into the second period with the Penguins in the lead.
The second was quiet, for the most part, outside of a power play goal scored by Rickard Rakell after Sidney Crosby found him with a nice feed to the slot for a quick shot to put the Penguins ahead 2-0. The Lightning were able to get themselves plenty of chances in the second period, but Jarry stood tall and kept his shutout intact through two full periods of play.
But, in typical fashion lately for the Penguins, they struggled to hang on to a lead in the third period. The Lighting took full advantage of a few Penguins miscues, leading to two third-period goals to push the game to overtime. Brayden Point ended Jarry’s shutout just under six minutes into the third after Ryan McDonagh made a smart play around the defensive zone boards to spring Point on a rush with the Penguins changing. He made a strong move around the net and beat Jarry top corner with a great backhand shot.
The momentum gained off the goal would roll into the eventual game-tying goal by Anthony Cirelli, benefiting from a lucky bounce on a play toward the front of the net, deflecting off Jarry’s stick and into the net. The game would head to overtime tied 2-2, with the Lightning holding a 32-19 shot advantage.
In overtime, Point buried the game-winning goal after Jarry found himself in no-man’s land outside of his net, and Point was able to tuck the puck in for a 3-2 win for the Lightning. In the win, Vasilevskiy made 17 saves on 19 shots, while Jarry finished with 32 saves on 35 shots faced.
The Lightning travel to Columbus on Nov. 21 to face the Blue Jackets. The Penguins will be off until they take on the league-leading Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 22.
