A three-goal second period got the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the win column on Thursday with a 6-3 beatdown of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Lightning opened the scoring five minutes in with an Anthony Cirelli rebound look before Pittsburgh scored a pair of goals to take a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes of hockey.
Cirelli tied the score on a shorthanded breakaway in the opening moments of the second period. Brayden Point restored the lead on a netfront look with 5:42 left in the period, and Zemgus Girgensons’ 100th NHL goal made it a 4-2 game in the final minute of the frame.
Nikita Kucherov added a goal in the third with a shot that surprised Pittsburgh’s goaltender, and Anthony Cirelli’s second career hat-trick was capped with an empty-net goal.
Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves for Tampa Bay in the win.
The Lightning, now 47-22-6 this season, will host the Boston Bruins this Saturday.
Scoring summary
First period
TBL 1, PIT 0
5:06 Anthony Cirelli (21) - Gage Goncalves
Tampa Bay grabbed an early lead on a rebound look for Anthony Cirelli, whose shot found the right half of the net.
TBL 1, PIT 1
7:01 Rickard Rakell (21) - Samuel Girard, Kris Letang
The Penguins evened the score with a shot from Rickard Rakell near the net after a pair of bounces off of Lightning skates.
PIT 2, TBL 1
Egor Chinakov (19) - Bryan Rust, Girard
Pittsburgh got its first advantage of the night with Egor Chinakov’s backhand shot on the fly.
Shots on goal: TBL 11, PIT 11
Second period
PIT 2, TBL 2
0:11 Cirelli (22) - Unassisted - SH
A shorthanded breakaway ended with a backhand bury for Cirelli’s second goal of the game.
TBL 3, PIT 2
14:08 Brayden Point (18) - Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov
Tampa Bay took back the lead with a netfront look on the stick of Brayden Point, who chipped the puck into the top corner after a feed from Jake Guentzel.
TBL 4, PIT 2
19:05 Zemgus Girgensons (9) - Yanni Gourde, Ryan McDonagh
Zemgus Girgensons furthered the lead with his 100th career NHL goal, accepting a pass in the slot and outwaiting Skinner for another backhand goal.
Shots on goal: TBL 9, PIT 8
Third period
TBL 5, PIT 2
13:50 Kucherov (41) - Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Guentzel
Nikita Kucherov surprised Pittsburgh’s netminder with a top-shelf shot from the bottom of the right circle.
TBL 6, PIT 2
15:33 Cirelli (23) - Goncalves, Kucherov - EN
Cirelli completed the hat-trick into the empty net.
TBL 6, PIT 3
19:59 Chinakov (20) - Letang, Mantha - PP
A power-play goal in the final second ended the night.
Total shots: TBL 33, PIT 24
