Tampa Bay Lightning outlast the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 for a hard-fought win

The Tampa Bay Lightning outlasted the Pittsburgh Penguins by a score of 5-4 to claim their first meeting of the year in Tampa.

The Tampa Bay Lightning got their first look at the Pittsburgh Penguins this season in a 5-4 win in Tampa on Thursday night.

The First Period began with plenty of shooting from the Lightning.  Koekkek drew first blood and put the Lightning up early with his first NHL goal just 6:00 into the first period. His shot ricocheted off of the stick of a Penguin defender and changed direction in front of the net.

A little later on in the period, Dan Girardi would earn himself 2:00 in the box for tripping and the Bolts would go on the Penalty Kill.  The penalty would be killed off, but seconds after Girardi stepped out of the penalty box Jake Guentzel tipped in a pass from Kris Letang and the score was tied at one.

Tampa Bay Lightning

After a push from the Penguins, the puck was loose in front of the Lightning’s net and a cluster ensued.  The puck bounced out of the scrum and it appeared that the score would be 2-1 in favor of the Penguins.  The goal was immediately waved off by the officials, however, as they believed the puck was kicked into the net.  A quick review confirmed their call, and the score would remain tied.

The Lightning would go on the power play for the first time with just 1:21 left in the first.  Right as time expired, Victor Hedman wired home his first of the season.  After the referees had a brief conference, it was determined that Hedman’s shot crossed the goal line with 00:00.1 left in the period and the Lightning would carry a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

At almost four minutes into the second period, the Lightning would go back on the power play after a slashing call.  Just seconds after the power play started, Steven Stamkos would send one past Niemi to put the Bolts up 3-2.  Stamkos’s first of the season would also tie him with Vincent Lecavalier for the most power play goals in club history at 112.

Connor Sheary would slip behind the Lightning’s defensemen and take a pass that would put him on a breakaway.  He would wast no time to putting the puck over Andrei Vasilevskiy‘s shoulder, and bring the Penguins within striking distance of the Lightning’s lead.

Then, less than a minute later a resounding ring was heard inside the arena.  If you blinked, you missed it, but Nikita Kucherov had perfectly picked the top right corner.  Kucherov’s 4th of the season would put the Lightning up 4-2.

The second period would prove to be busy, as the Penguins and the Lightning both would record another goal before the period came to a close.  Rust would put a sloppy rebound behind Vasilevskiy to once again bring the Penguins within one.

However, Slater Koekkoek would net his second goal of the game (which was also the second of his career) before the period would end and the Lightning would take a 3 goal lead into the second intermission.

The Penguins would strike first in the third penalty, with Hunwick scoring off of a rebound.  His goal would once again cut the Lightning’s lead to one with a score of 5-4.

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For the next long while, the two teams would remain deadlocked, bringing on the first long period of silence in the entire game.  There would be no major events until the Penguins call their goalie Antti Niemi to the bench in exchange for an extra attacker,

With just a minute left in the game, a multi-player scrap broke out that would send the Lightning on a power play for the remainder of the game.  The Bolts would kill the clock and ride out a dicey  5-4 win against their rivals.

One of the defining features of the game was the sheer number of penalties taken by both sides.  Each team had 5(!) chances on the power play.  The Penguins only converted on 1 of these chances, which is a high accolade for the Bolts penalty kill.  The Lightning, on the other hand, cashed in on 2 of their powerplay opportunities which proved to be one too many for the Penguins

Another key to the Lightning’s Win was the number of shots taken.  The Bolts had 34 shots on the night, which is no small number.  The Penguins put up 6 more shots than the Bolts with a whopping 40 shots on the night.  Tonight was a strong showing for Andrei Vasilevskiy, as he made 36 saves on the night.

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While the Lightning took home 2 points in the standings, it was somewhat of a lucky win given how many penalties they had to kill off. This can’t be the norm for the Lightning going forward as it won’t result in a win on most nights. Next on the Lightning’s schedule is the St. Louis Blues.  This game will end the Lightning’s three-game homestand as they will be hitting the road for their next three games.