He did not, Evgeni Malkin said, feel responsibility for saving this game, let alone the Penguins' season.

It just ended up looking that way.

Malkin spearheaded the Penguins' third-period comeback from a 3-0 deficit, then knocked in the winning goal with 15.5 seconds left in overtime of their 4-3 victory last night against Tampa Bay at Mellon Arena.

"He was dominant in every aspect," defenseman Mark Eaton said. "He was first on pucks, physical, making plays. Phenomenal."

Malkin picked a good time to produce his best effort in what has been a pretty good season for him.

The victory not only ended their 0-2-1 skid, raised their record to 25-23-5 and hoisted them into a tie for ninth place in the Eastern Conference, but might have provided the impetus for a surge that could carry them into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

There's no guarantee of that, to be sure, but scoring three times in the final 18 minutes of regulation and getting Malkin's winning goal seemed to give them the kind of emotional boost they haven't had in months.

"Hopefully, a period like that can give us the confidence and momentum we need to put a streak together," Eaton said.

Having a productive power play would greatly enhance the chances of that. After squandering their first six chances with the extra man last night, the Penguins capitalized on their seventh to put the game into overtime.

That last power play was made possible when winger Matt Cooke -- a marked man in Tampa since a hit on Vincent Lecavalier late last season led to Lecavalier having shoulder surgery -- drew a roughing minor from Lightning winger Gary Roberts at the end of a scuffle at 14:53 of the third period.

"I just stopped and put my shoulder in his chest and he punched me in the side of the head," Cooke said. "At that point in the game, I'm not going to do anything back."

His revenge came in the form of a goal by Petr Sykora at 16:31 that completed the Penguins' rally from the 3-0 lead they spotted Tampa Bay in the first two periods.

The Lightning, losers of three consecutive games, outshot the Penguins, 14-5, in the opening period and got the only goal during those 20 minutes.

Two former Penguins, Ryan Malone and Mark Recchi, teamed up to score it at 15:25, as Malone punched in a Recchi rebound after the Penguins failed to clear the puck from in front of their net.

Martin St. Louis made it 2-0 five minutes into the second period, and the Penguins generated just five shots on goalie Mike McKenna during a subsequent two-man advantage that lasted two minutes.

And when Lecavalier scored from below the right circle at 16:52 of the second to make it 3-0, the Penguins barely registered a pulse.

Malkin revived them with a goal at 2:35 of the third, however, as he swept in a Pascal Dupuis rebound from the crease, and they got another one at 14:06, when defenseman Mark Eaton threw the puck toward the Tampa Bay net from inside the left circle and it caromed off the right skate of Lightning defenseman Steve Eminger and behind McKenna.

"We've been talking about just throwing pucks at the net," Eaton said. "That's what I did. I knew the guy was in the shooting lane to the net side, so I just tried to put it toward the middle and I got lucky."

Sykora tied it on a power play at 16:31, as he was the last Penguin to touch the puck before Tampa Bay defenseman Paul Ranger knocked it over the goal line.

That gave him 20 or more goals in 10 consecutive seasons.

"That's something I'm proud of," he said.

And Malkin felt the same way about his, especially since it came in such a critical game.

"It's a great game and I feel great," Malkin said. "I think it's a nice game by me."

None of his teammates argued the point.

"He really took the game over," coach Michel Therrien said. "This is what you expect from your best players at crucial times. You could see the fire was in his eyes.

"He was ready to do everything in his power to try and win this hockey game."

It worked.