In our postgame interview on Lightning Radio, Yanni Gourde told Erik Erlendsson that this was the team’s best game so far during the seven-game homestand (on which the Lightning have gone 5-1-1 so far).
It’s hard to argue with Gourde’s statement. The Lightning rallied from a 2-1 deficit against the second-place team in the Metropolitan Division with five unanswered goals and reached 100 points on the season.
Gourde’s line, with Zemgus Girgensons and Pontus Holmberg, had an especially effective game. They matched against Sidney Crosby’s line and held the Pittsburgh unit in check for most of the night. They also chipped in a goal—Girgensons’ 100th career tally turned out to be the game-winner.
The Lightning started the game well, controlling play in the early minutes. They got rewarded when Gage Goncalves intercepted a puck in the offensive zone and fired a shot on net. Stuart Skinner made the initial save, but couldn’t stop Anthony Cirelli’s rebound shot at 5:06.
The Pens tied things less than two minutes later when Sam Girard took the puck behind the Lightning net and forced a pass in front. It hit off multiple skates before setting on the stick of Rickard Rakell at the side of the goal. Rakell snapped a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 7:01.
One of Pittsburgh’s best stretches in the game occurred in the latter stages of the first period. A couple of strong offensive-zone shifts culminated in Egor Chinakhov’s goal off the rush. He finished a backhander from the bottom of the right circle at 16:10.
The Lightning received a power play with just over two minutes left in the frame, but it didn’t last long. Thirty-two seconds into the man advantage, they had to take a penalty to prevent a Noel Acciari shorthanded rush chance. After the four-on-four ended, the Penguins went on a short power play themselves. It began with only a few seconds left in the first period and carried over into the second.
Following a Pittsburgh faceoff win to begin the period, the Pens brought the puck into the offensive zone. But Cirelli stole the puck just inside the blue line and chipped it ahead to himself. He raced down the ice on a breakaway and lifted a backhander past Skinner at :11 to tie the game.
The Penguins may have owned more possession time during the second period, but the Lightning created the more dangerous chances. In addition to the Cirelli SHG, they tallied two others during the middle stanza. Brayden Point netted a goal from the low slot shortly after a zone entry at 14:08, and Girgensons’ milestone tally came at 19:05.
The third was a strong closeout period for the Lightning. They held the Penguins to just five shots on net, and one of those came in the final seconds when Chinakhov scored his second of the night. Before then, the Lightning tacked on two goals themselves. Nikita Kucherov snapped a right-circle shot over the left shoulder of Skinner at 13:50. Cirelli completed his hat trick (the second of his career) when he scored into an empty net at 15:33. But the most important takeaway from the third period was how well the Lightning limited possession time, shots, and scoring chances for the opposition.
The Lightning wrap up the homestand on Saturday against the Bruins.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Anthony Cirelli — Lightning. Hat trick.
- Erik Cernak — Lightning.
- Zemgus Girgensons — Lightning. GWG. 100th career goal.
