Penguins score six, defeat Lightning in NHL season opener

TAMPA --Brian Boyle scored in his first NHL game in 14 months, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the season opener at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

"That was awesome to see," Pittsburgh forward Danton Heinen said. "It was a nice goal too. He's such a great guy, always smiling, a great teammate to have. It was awesome to see."
Boyle did not play in the NHL last season and signed a one-year contract with the Penguins on Tuesday after attending training camp on a professional tryout. The center's last NHL game was for the Florida Panthers when they were eliminated by the New York Islanders in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers on Aug. 7, 2020. His last goal came in Game 3 of that best-of-5 series two days earlier.
Heinen also scored in his Penguins debut, and Tristan Jarry made 26 saves. Pittsburgh scored three empty-net goals.
"Well, it's a big win for us," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "Obviously, that's a really good team we're playing against. It's a real emotional night for them. It's one of those games that can go either way.
"I thought we came out with a lot of energy. I thought we played the game that we're trying to play. We were doing everything in fives in all three zones, and that's when our team is at its best."
Anthony Cirelli had a goal and an assist, Alex Killorn scored, and Steven Stamkos had two assists for the Lightning, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who had won their past nine home openers. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves.
"It was a dud," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. "I can't remember the last time we lost a home opener. It's been a long time. [The Penguins] had a depleted lineup with some really good players missing and they worked extremely hard tonight. They stuck to their structure and outworked us. We were chasing the puck all night."

The Penguins were without captain Sidney Crosby, who had wrist surgery Sept. 8; fellow center Evgeni Malkin, who had knee surgery June 4; defenseman Mike Matheson, who is day to day with an undisclosed injury; and forwards Jake Guentzel and Zach Aston-Reese. Guentzel returned to practice Monday after being removed from the NHL COVID-19 protocol; Aston-Reese was removed from the protocol Saturday.
Crosby is expected to be out for at least the first two games of the season, and Malkin is sidelined for at least the first two months.
Heinen gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the second period after Vasilevskiy lost the puck to Pittsburgh forward Jeff Carter behind the net and Carter fed Heinen in the slot.

Boyle made it 2-0 at 4:11 when he took a pass from Sam Lafferty and beat Vasilevskiy through the five-hole.
"You see the guys we had step up with 'Boyler' and Danton coming in," Jarry said. "They got huge goals for us, and that brings big positivity to our bench. That helped a lot, and I think that helped us get the win."
Dominik Simon extended the lead to 3-0 at 11:32 of the third period when he threw the puck toward the net and it deflected in off Lightning forward Taylor Raddysh's leg.

Cirelli made it 3-1 at 14:23 when he redirected a shot from Victor Hedman with Vasilevskiy pulled for the extra attacker.
"[Pittsburgh] came here to win a hockey game," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We came here and watched the (Stanley Cup) banner-raising and then watched a team want to win a hockey game. We did a lot of watching tonight."
Blueger answered 30 seconds later with the first of the empty-net goals at 14:53 to make it 4-1.
Killorn scored with the extra attacker to cut it to 4-2 at 16:49, but Evan Rodrigues made it 5-2 at 17:35 and Bryan Rust scored for the 6-2 final at 18:11.
"It's a process, but definitely I think we proved that we can play against a team like Tampa and we can play well and we can win," Simon said. "I think that was big."
Lightning forward Pat Maroon said, "It's Game 1, we're going to throw that tape out and we've got to move on. We have to realize it doesn't matter who's in the lineup. It's going to be hard every night."
NOTES: Raddysh had a blocked shot and played 10:27 in his NHL debut. … Forwards Corey Perry (two hits, one blocked shot in 12:40) and Pierre-Edouard Bellmare (one shot, one hit in 12:46) each made his Lightning debut. Perry lost to Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Final the past two seasons with the Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens. … Forward Brock McGinn had an assist, two shots, four hits and three blocked shots playing 15:05 in his Penguins debut.