Lightning cruise past Penguins, get first regulation win

PITTSBURGH -- The Tampa Bay Lightning won for the first time in regulation this season, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Ondrej Palat and Ryan McDonagh scored 10 seconds apart in the second period, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning (3-3-1), who had lost three in a row, including 5-1 at the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
"The way last night went, we thought for most of that game, we played well and kind of shot ourselves in the foot," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "There's a lot of talk about back-to-backs and how hard they are. Sometimes back-to-backs are needed. We needed a game right after last night. Good feeling the guys would respond. They certainly did tonight."
Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for the Penguins (3-1-2), who have played their six games without centers Sidney Crosby (wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (knee). Pittsburgh had its season-opening five-game point streak end.
"We're putting ourselves in a position to win games," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "I think we're a team that's playing well collectively as a group. The structure is evident. That's important at this particular time. ... We're not perfect. We make mistakes, but they're mistakes of enthusiasm."
Brayden Point gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 31 seconds into the second. After taking a pass from Alex Killorn in the neutral zone, Point drove past Penguins defenseman John Marino for a backhand to the blocker side.
"I thought we played well," Marino said. "We skated hard. Controlled the majority of the second period, but the chances we gave up were too much."

It was Tampa Bay's first lead of the season. Its previous two wins came in overtime.
"[Taking the lead] helps out in a lot of areas," McDonagh said. "It just creates more momentum for you, makes the other team press a little bit. You keep it simple and keep going north and forecheck, you get more goals that way. It was a good sign for us."
Before Point's goal, Brock McGinn had one waved off that would have put Pittsburgh ahead at 14:44 of the first period. An initial shot from McGinn went up and over Vasilevskiy's shoulder, but a whistle blew the play dead as McGinn followed by tapping the puck past the goal line.
Palat and McDonagh gave the Lightning a three-goal lead. Palat took a wrist shot from the high slot, making it 2-0 at 11:18 of the second; Steven Stamkos set up McDonagh for a one-timer and a 3-0 lead at 11:28.
"I think it's still early, but we were talking about getting better," Palat said. "Just feel better about our game. It's a good step. There's still room for improvement, I think. We need to be better too."

Jarry had not allowed more than two goals in any of his previous four starts this season.
Danton Heinen had a chance to cut Tampa Bay's lead to two when the puck came out of the corner to him alone in front, but Vasilevskiy slid to his left and stretched for a glove save at 17:24 of the second.
Mikhail Sergachev scored an empty-net goal to extend the lead to 4-0 at 16:55 of the third period before Jason Zucker cut it to 4-1 with a wrist shot on the power play at 17:43.
Killorn scored into an empty net for the 5-1 final at 18:55.
"We need everybody," Zucker said. "I think we've shown that the first few games of the season. We need to make sure everybody is pulling their weight and more."
NOTES: The goals from Palat and McDonagh were one second shy of tying the record for the fastest in Lightning history. Tampa Bay has scored two goals in nine seconds three times: Jan. 9, 2004, against the New Jersey Devils; Jan. 14, 2014, against the New York Rangers; and March 25, 2016, against the New York Islanders. … Lightning forward Pat Maroon had three shots on goal and three hits in 13:20 of ice time in his return to the lineup. He did not play Monday following the birth of his daughter Sunday. … In addition to Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins played a second straight game without forwards Bryan Rust and Jeff Carter, and defenseman Kris Letang. Rust is week to week with a lower-body injury; Carter and Letang are in the NHL COVID-19 protocol.