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Tampa Bay Lightning defeat Penguins, 4-1
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TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay goalie Dwayne Roloson offered up a near-flawless sequel to his playoff performance against the Penguins tonight.
Roloson stopped all but one of the 34 shots the Penguins threw at him during the Lightning's 4-1 victory at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Tyler Kennedy got the Penguins' only goal, scoring from the left side of the slot at 16:49 of the third period, after Tampa Bay had built a 4-0 lead.
The Penguins scratched center Richard Park, along with forwards Sidney Crosby and Dustin Jeffrey. That cleared a spot in the lineup for left winger Steve MacIntyre, who had just returned from a conditioning assignment in Wilkes-Barre.
Tampa Bay entered the game with the lowest-rated home-ice penalty killing in the NHL, but held the Penguins without a shot after Steven Stamkos went off for tripping Chris Kunitz at 6:10 of the first period.
The Lightning didn't get its first shot of the game until 8:38, but used it to take a 1-0 lead.
Vincent Lecavalier scored it, as he picked up the puck along the left-wing boards after Jordan Staal of the Penguins lost it there, then cut to the net and slid a backhander between the legs of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Penguins, who had a 7-5 edge in shots during the opening period, had a chance to pull even when Evgeni Malkin and Steve Sullivan had a two-on-one break during the final minute, but Malkin's cross-ice feed to Sullivan was broken up.
Brett Connolly padded Tampa Bay's lead with a power-play goal -- the first allowed by Fleury this season -- at 4:08 of the second period. Connolly set up at the front lip of the crease and deflected a Dominic Moore slapshot between Fleury's legs.
Steve Downie effectively put the game out of reach with another man-advantage goal at 2:04 of the third, as he collected the rebound of an Eric Brewer shot that had been blocked by Paul Martin and threw it over Fleury's glove from the left hash mark.
Lecavalier punctuated the Lightning's victory during a four-on-four situation at 15:49 by stealing the puck from Kris Letang and scoring into an empty net after Fleury had been pulled for an extra attacker.
The Penguins will wrap up their two-game road trip with a game at Florida Saturday at 7:38 p.m.
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First Published November 17, 2011 10:10 pm
