PIT-TBL-Recap

After a lackluster game against Ottawa on Saturday, the Penguins responded with a strong performance on Sunday versus Tampa Bay, but ended up on the wrong side of the score for the second time this weekend.

“They're two different games. Yesterday, we didn't really give ourselves a chance at all. Tonight, I thought we deserved better, but you don't get points for playing well,” Sidney Crosby said. “You got to find a way to win games, and we have to do that.”

The Lightning came away with a 5-2 win over the Penguins, with the game unraveling late in regulation.

Nikita Kucherov – who’s won the Art Ross Trophy (NHL leading scorer), Ted Lindsay Award (MVP as voted on by the players) and Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) – got his second goal of the night on Tristan Jarry with just over three minutes to go to break a 2-2 tie. Tampa Bay followed that up with two empty-netters.

“We played on top of them. I thought we defended hard in a lot of instances,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “They have some game-breaking players on their side. It's unfortunate the way it just evolved in the last couple of minutes, because I thought our group played really hard.”

The Penguins, who are battling for a Wild Card playoff spot, are now 2-4-3 coming out of the holiday break.

“If you're looking at wins and losses, I mean – it's a pretty fine line,” Crosby said. “Obviously, the results haven't been there, but we've given ourselves a chance in a lot of those games to win.

“It’s a matter of details and big plays, and when you're stringing seven together, you're getting those plays, and when you're not, that’s probably the difference. But a lot of those games we're coming out of, we feel like we did a lot of good things. So, that's probably the most frustrating thing about it.”

Crosby speaks with the media

In tonight’s case, the Penguins generated good chances, controlled territory, and played on their toes for the majority of the game. They outshot Tampa 14-2 in the first 20 minutes and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on a goal from Rickard Rakell. He leads the Penguins with 22 tallies in just 45 games, and since being left off his country’s Four Nations roster on Dec. 4, he leads all Swedish players with 12 goals and 22 points.

The Lightning found a couple of goals in the second period to take a 2-1 lead before Kevin Hayes tied it early in the third. He slotted onto the first power-play unit over the boards in Michael Bunting’s absence (more on that in a minute) and scored for the third time in five games since re-entering the lineup after nine games as a healthy scratch.

Since he slotted back in on Jan. 3, only Rakell has more goals on the Penguins than Hayes. Not to mention no NHL player has more goals than Rakell (15) dating back to Nov. 27.

The Penguins continued to push from there before the game turned. They have one more game in front of their fans on Tuesday versus Seattle before heading out West for a seven-game road trip that will span over two weeks.

“They're a dangerous team, and we didn't give them a ton. Just try to build,” Crosby said. “That's more of our type of game, more of our style. But find ways to close it out.”

“I think the players, their intentions are in the right spot. A few weeks ago, pucks were going in the net for some guys. Lately, it hasn't been the case. But I think we just got to stay with it,” Sullivan added. “We got to dig in here. Barring the game yesterday, which I thought was a little bit of an outlier when you look at the last seven or eight weeks of this team, we’re in every game we play. Tonight's no different.”

Sullivan speaks with the media

LINEUP NOTES: Sullivan said in his pregame media availability that Michael Bunting had been involved in a car accident outside of PPG Paints Arena, and while everyone was okay, the forward would not dress.

Phil Tomasino returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury, sustained when he went feet-first into the boards on Jan. 3 in Florida. He was initially listed as week-to-week, but was fortunately able to return sooner rather than later.

"I thought Phil had a good game for his first game,” Sullivan said. “He made some plays, he was on the puck in the offensive zone. Obviously, we'd like to see that line chip in and score some goals, but I thought for his first game back, he was fine."

Evgeni Malkin missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. He’s currently listed as day-to-day.