Penguins Optimistic After First Regulation Loss
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Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 stops for the Lightning in their first regulation win of the season, while Tristan Jarry made 26 stops for the Penguins in their first regulation loss of the season.
Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Ryan McDonagh all scored in the second period for Tampa Bay, while Mikhail Sergachev and Alex Killorn added empty-netters in the final minutes of regulation. Jason Zucker scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
The score wasn't quite as lopsided as it looked, which is a testament to this depleted Penguins team that played without five of their best skaters - Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust - for a second straight game.
"I thought our team competed hard," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought we put ourselves in a position to win the hockey game. There was a lot of the game that I liked.
"Obviously, we don't want to lose. We end up on the wrong side of the score, and that's an important aspect. We're aware it's about results. But we can't always control that, right? We can control the process."
The Penguins expected the Lightning to start strong, as the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions have struggled a bit in this early part of the year.
"They're a heck of a team. They have a ton of pride in that room, so we knew they were going to come out and push because of that," Zucker said. "I thought we answered pretty well in a lot of the ways."
Like after the Lightning earned a 5-1 edge in shots to open the first, Penguins forward Sam Lafferty laid Ryan McDonagh out with a big hit behind Tampa Bay's net. The Bolts defenseman didn't like it and immediately went after Lafferty, earning a double-minor and sending Pittsburgh to the power play.
"That kind of got our guys into the hockey game a little bit," Sullivan said.
Then with 5:16 remaining in the opening frame, winger Brock McGinn thought he had opened the scoring for Pittsburgh, but the whistle blew before the puck crossed the line. Sullivan said that the referee came over and said he made a mistake, that he lost sight of the puck from being on the backside of the goaltender.
"I was appreciative of his honesty. That's hockey. There's a human element sometimes to it," Sullivan said. "Obviously, it would've been a big goal for us from a momentum standpoint."
Unfortunately, the Lightning showcased their quick-strike capability and their dynamic, explosive transition game, as they were opportunistic in the middle frame and were able to get three goals of their own, including one 31 seconds in and then two in a 10-second span.
The first of those quick tallies was even more frustrating considering it came after the Penguins had built some momentum after spending a lot of time in Tampa Bay's zone.
"We had plenty of chances to score in those shifts," Zucker said. "I think we passed up too many shots in the grand scheme of the game, and I think we were looking for one extra play multiple times. That was definitely a tough turn, especially when we thought we were playing pretty well there.""
After the Penguins used their timeout, they settled down and responded well - they just weren't able to find the back of the net with some of the good looks that they had.
"We had significant zone time," Sullivan said. "We hit a couple of crossbars. Vasilevsky made a couple of big stops. We just couldn't seem to score and put it behind them."