Penguins defeat Lightning, 4-2
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Penguins' Jordan Staal battles for the puck against Tampa Bay Lightnings' Victor Hedman at the Consol Energy Center.
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The Penguins overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2,, tonight at Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins have won six home games in a row.
It was the Lightning's first trip here since Game 7 of the first round of the 2011 playoffs, won by Tampa Bay, 1-0, to end the Penguins' season.
Tampa Bay not only scored the first two goals of the game, but they were scored by one player, winger Steve Downie, in an 11-second span.
Downie made it 1-0 at 9:58 of the first period when his fluttering shot from above the left circle went in off the glove of Penguins goaltender Brent Johnson.
At 10:09, Downie made it 2-0 when he tipped in a pass from Teddy Purcell.
The Penguins cut the deficit in half, 2-1, at 16:15 of the first period when Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal, one-timing a pass from Kris Letang. That gave Malkin a streak of eight home games with at least one goal, a personal best.
The Penguins scored three goals in the third period to take a two-goal lead.
Chris Kunitz tied it, 2-2, on a nice effort, weaving down the slot amid four Lightning players and scoring 56 seconds into the period. Johnson got one of the assists, the second game in a row a Penguins goalie got a point.
Letang gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead at 4:28 when his shot from the right edge of the slot trickled in off the glove of Lightning goaltender Mathieu Garon.
At 9:49, Letang put the puck in the net again, but the goal was immediately waved off because it was ruled that the Penguins' Richard Park had interfered with Garon in the crease.
Just over a minute later, though, at 10:54, Malkin got his second goal of the game. He rushed in on a back-door play and tipped in a pass from Kunitz to make it 4-2.
The Penguins' three-game homestand ends Tuesday with a game against Anaheim.
First Published February 12, 2012 9:40 pm
