Lightning strike late, send Penguins to 3rd straight loss

TAMPA, Fla. — For all their problems with injuries or a roster imbalance between forwards and defensemen, one of the few maladies the Penguins have not had to confront in the early stages of the 2019-20 campaign has been penalties.

Entering Wednesday, they had had averaged 6.8 penalty minutes per game, ninth fewest in the NHL.

Very few of the games they had lost this season were the result of poor discipline.

On Wednesday, the Penguins failed to avoid penalties at key junctures — specifically the third period — and that led to their third consecutive defeat, a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Amalie Arena.

The Penguins, who were without the services of fourth-liner Adam Johnson due to an undisclosed injury, took five penalties, including two in the final period. The last led to the Lightning scoring a last-minute power-play goal which proved to be the difference.

“It’s tough,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “You’d hope to gain some momentum down the stretch and you end up trying to kill penalties. I thought for the most part, the penalty kill was terrific most of the night. We might have given up one chance and it was in the net.”

The one that ended up in the net was a blistering one-timer by Lighting all-star defenseman Victor Hedman with only 57 seconds remaining in regulation. The score was set up by a hooking penalty by Penguins forward Jake Guetnzel 1:08 earlier.

Guentzel’s play wasn’t a particularly egregious transgression as it prevented a potential score by Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli.

“If (Guentzel) doesn’t make that, there’s a pretty good chance they’re going to have a clear-cut opportunity,” said Gudbranson. “A grade-A scoring chance. It’s just hockey.”

Earlier in the period, at the 15:19 mark, the Penguins, who had largely avoided stick-related infractions this season, took a very rare penalty which is arguably the truest form of a stick-related foul.

In trying to defend an offensive rush by the Lightning, defenseman Marcus Pettersson broke his stick. In the ensuing chaos, forward Zach Aston-Reese shuffled his stick on the to Pettersson, as forward tend to do to defensemen in such scenarios. Officals ruled Aston-Reese threw his stick and sent him to the penalty box for two minutes.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” Sullivan said. “Did he throw it or drop it? I’m not sure which.”

The Penguins are sure they got a strong effort from backup goaltender Tristan Jarry, who took the loss despite making a career-high 45 saves.

“It sucks,” Gudbranson said. “It sucks, but it happens. We played hard. (Jarry) was really, really good. He played a hell of a game. That’s a good team.”

The Lightning demonstrated its talent by opening the scoring with a re-direction goal by forawrd Alex Killorn at 9:46 of the opening period.

A dazzling goal by forward Brandon Tanev tied the game, 1-1, at 5:06 of the second. Collecting a loose puck in the high slot, Tanev lifted a wrister from the left circle off the side of the cage. Collecting the rebound, he scooted behind the net, emerged to the right of a circle, deked past defenseman Ryan McDonagh’s left skate and roofed a sneaky backhander over the left shoudler of goaltender Andrei Vasilevksiy on the near side.

The Penguins took a lead at 19:01 of the third when Guentzel buried his team-leading sixth goal of the campaign off a precise passing sequence with linemates Sidney Crosby and Dominik Simon.

It was tied again, 2-2, at 7:07 of the third when Gudbranson and Lafferty failed to connect on a passing sequence behind their own net. The turnover resulted in another tip-in by Lightning Cedric Paquette.

After that, the Lightning claimed victory with its potent power play, 11th-best in the NHL at a conversion rate of 23.8 percent.

“They have a good power play,” said Gudbranson. “The best way to kill penalties against them is to not take any.”

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