Penguins score three in row to defeat Lightning

TAMPA-- Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice to help the Pittsburgh Penguins rally for a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
Pittsburgh (18-7-3), which trailed 3-1 in the second period, won its fifth game in a row.

WATCH: All Penguins vs. Lightning highlights
Malkin gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead at 8:36 of the third period. His wrist shot went past Vasilevskiy 11 seconds into a power play, with Phil Kessel getting his third assist.
"We have a lot of confidence," Malkin said. "We know we can score two, three goals at a time. We play our hockey and we can go down 3-1 and come back and win the game."
Jonathan Drouin scored twice for the Lightning (14-13-2), who are 1-6-1 in their past eight games. Valtteri Filppula scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves.
Malkin's first goal at 17:25 of the second period cut the Lightning lead to 3-2. The goal was the result of a passing display capped by Kessel's feed to Malkin at the hash mark, where he shot a one-timer past Vasilevskiy.

Crosby tied the game 3-3 with his NHL-leading 20th goal of the season at 5:08 of the third period. Kessel made the pass, and Crosby scored on a one-timer from between the circles.
"We definitely executed really well, especially late in the second with a quick one to get it close," Crosby said. "We had some really good looks."
Filppula gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 3:38 of the second period when he beat Matt Murray with a wrist shot to the near post on a 2-on-1. Drouin made it 3-1 at 10:19 of the second on a partial breakaway.
"I thought we played well, it definitely [stinks] to lose that one," Drouin said. "We were physically and mentally going and the bench was going and I hadn't seen [that] in a while from our team, so it was a nice to see."
Crosby made it 1-0 at 12:03 of the first period, and Drouin tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal at 17:57.
Crosby left the game briefly in the first period when he was checked by Lightning defenseman Luke Witkowski and his head hit the boards where they meet the glass. Crosby said he had to go through the concussion protocol at the end of the first period.
"It was just kind of a stinger," Crosby said. "My neck got jammed and that's basically it."

Goal of the game

Crosby dove to get the rebound of defenseman Brian Dumoulin's shot on goal and managed to get the puck past Vasilevskiy's stick while falling down for the first goal of the game.

Save of the game

Murray made a glove save on Filppula, who had a look at an open net, at 10:46 of the third period to deny the Lightning a good chance to tie the game.
"It was a bit of a [mess] in front of the net," Murray said. "I don't know. I'm pretty lucky to be honest. I think he panicked a little bit because he had the whole short side of the net."

Unsung performance of the game

The Penguins power play scored one goal in its past 20 attempts entering Saturday. Pittsburgh went 3-for-5 thanks in large part to Kessel, who had an assist on each of the three goals.

Highlight of the game

Drouin beat Cole to the puck and maintained his balance before beating Murray with a backhand for his first multigoal game in the NHL.

They said it

"What's so impressive about [Crosby] is how he plays. He creates offense so many ways. He's every bit as good a passer as he is a scorer. His compete level and his willingness to go into battle areas ... it's impressive. He's been one inspiring guy for our group." --Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"I thought tonight was a step forward. I thought we played pretty well. Penalty kill let us down a little bit, and those are the things you look for. Obviously the result [stinks], but if you look at the whole picture, I thought it was a big step forward from the Vancouver game (a 5-1 home loss Thursday)." -- Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman

Need to know

Drouin needed seven stitches to close a cut below his left eye as a result of Malkin's high stick at 16:07 of the first period. … Malkin passed Kevin Stevens and Jaromir Jagr for second place in Penguins history with 111 power-play goals. Mario Lemieux is first with 236. … The Penguins had four power-play goals on the road coming into Saturday.

What's next

Penguins: Hosts the Arizona Coyotes on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, ROOT, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Calgary Flames on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, SUN, NHL.TV)