Point's record-setting night helps Bolts rally vs. Penguins

Brayden Point capitalized on a series of Pittsburgh penalties late in the first period to record a natural hat trick and lead the Bolts to a 4-3 win in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
Once again, however, Tampa Bay had to mount a comeback after falling behind by a pair of goals.

Three straight Lightning penalties gave the Penguins plenty of early momentum. Patric Hornqvist and Phil Kessel capitalized on some tired Lightning penalty killers to score a pair of quick goals to give the hosts the early lead.
Enter Brayden Point, who got revenge as the Penguins took three straight penalties giving the Lightning back-to-back 5-on-3 power plays.

He quickly got to work scoring from point-blank range with only three seconds remaining in the first period. Point then tallied two more power play goals in the first 88 seconds of the second period to give the Bolts the lead.
By completing the natural hat trick in 1:31, Point set a Lightning franchise record for fastest three goals.
Patric Hornqvist answered back with the only even strength goal of the game to tie things for Pittsburgh three minutes after Point's third goal. A turnover behind the Lightning net leaked out in front to Hornqvist who jammed it home.
Yanni Gourde helped the Lightning answer back, scoring on another power play with a quick shot from the point that deflected off the post and in to give the Bolts a lead they would not surrender.
For all the early scoring, the Lightning tightened defensively down the stretch and made it hard for Pittsburgh to generate many dangerous chances.
Making his first start in goal since the loss of Andrei Vasilevskiy to injury, Louis Domingue came up with some big saves, including a save on a Zach Aston-Reese breakaway with seven minutes remaining. He finished the night with 28 saves on 31 shots.

Nikita Kucherov's performance also stood out. Kucherov assisted on all three of Point's goals and recorded the 200th assist of his career.
The Bolts continue the road trip on Saturday with a matinee matchup vs. the Flyers in Philadelphia.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
PIT | 10:33 Patric Hornqvist (6) - Phil Kessel, Kris Letang - PPG
PIT | 13:49 Phil Kessel (9) - Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist - PPG
TBL | 19:57 Brayden Point (10) - Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov - PPG
2nd Period
TBL | 0:41 Brayden Point (11) - Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov - PPG
TBL | 1:28 Brayden Point (12) - J.T. Miller, Nikita Kucherov - PPG
PIT | 4:29 Patric Hornqvist (7) - Evgeni Malkin
TBL | 7:48 Yanni Gourde (8) - Mikhail Sergachev, Alex Killorn - PPG
3rd Period
No scoring