Snap Shots: Lightning 4, Penguins 3
* The most frustrating part about tonight's loss - their seventh in the past eight games - was that the game turned on a sequence that was avoidable. With all the momentum on their side after two first-period power-play goals and time ticking down, all the Pens needed to do was manage the clock and get to the intermission.
Instead, Phil Kessel took a slashing penalty, and the Lightning were able to get the extra attacker on the ice during the delayed call. The Pens had a chance to touch the puck and get the stoppage, but instead, Evgeni Malkin took a tripping penalty, and both players went to the box with 23 seconds left to play. Shortly after that, Matt Cullen - one of the Pens' best PKers, especially with Carl Hagelin now gone - also took a tripping penalty.
Brayden Point scored with 2.7 seconds left, then added two more goals once the second period started to complete the natural hat trick in 91 seconds. Just like that, a 2-0 lead for the Pens turned into a 3-2 lead for Tampa Bay.
"I think the penalties we took were pretty clear, with the exception of maybe a couple," Cullen said. "When you get a couple power-play goals early in the game you know (the refs) are probably looking to get you and we made it really easy for them to put us in the box. When you're squeezing it as tight as we are right now and trying to get out of a bit of a hole, you can't afford to be down shorthanded like that."
* It was a rough night for the Pens' penalty kill, as the Lightning went 4-for-7 on the power play. The Pens obviously need to do a much better job of being disciplined moving forward, as it's not ideal to put their PKers in a position like that, especially after losing a key member of the unit. That being said, they have to at least come up with a key kill here or there.
"No. 1, we put ourselves in a tough spot," Cullen said. "I'm as guilty as anyone here. We can't afford to go down 5-on-3 for an extended period of time. But ultimately, bottom line, we'll look at the video but it wasn't good enough. We can't give up that many goals as a penalty kill. We've got to improve a lot."
They also need their goaltender to bail them out from time to time. The fourth power-play goal, which came a few minutes later off the stick of Yanni Gourde, stood as the game-winner and was especially back-breaking because it was one Matt Murray - making his first start since Nov. 5 - could have stopped. "He put it in a pretty good spot post and in, but I've got to have that for sure," Murray said after the game.
* Overall, special teams was the story of the game, as six of the seven goals all came on the power play. Which also makes this loss tougher to swallow as the Pens were the better team 5-on-5. "We just have to stay out of the box," Patric Hornqvist said. "Their power play is real dangerous and they showed tonight. They scored four goals. But that's part of hockey. When they don't go your way you have to bear down, make sure you work harder, stick to those details and don't take penalties. That's the bottom line. I think 5-on-5 we were the better team. They know it and we know it."
* It's too bad Hornqvist couldn't play the entire game. He clearly received the message that GM Jim Rutherford sent the locker room by trading a beloved and popular teammate like Hagelin, as he was a factor every time he stepped on the ice. He scored the game's only even-strength goal in addition to his power-play tally.
* Tanner Pearson made his Pens debut on a line with Hornqvist and Malkin, finishing a plus-1 in 13:43 minutes of ice time and seeing some time on the second power-play unit. "Tanner is a guy that we think can help us offensively," Sullivan said. "He's played with top players when he was in LA and we'd like to give him a decent look and see if he can develop some chemistry. I thought he was on the puck tonight. I thought he had a couple of opportunities to shoot the puck as well, and that's something we're trying to encourage all of our guys to do. I thought Geno's line in particular was pretty good for us 5-on-5."
