Nikita Kucherov swiped the puck and converted on a breakaway with three minutes remaining as the Tampa Bay Lightning broke a tie and claimed the season series from the host Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Sunday.
Kucherov, who scored twice to reach 20 for the season, grabbed a puck near the blue line, sped in on goaltender Tristan Jarry (14 saves) and lifted the go-ahead goal as the Lightning won for the second time in two meetings against the Penguins.
Anthony Cirelli (one assist) and Nick Paul produced goals into an empty net as Tampa Bay spilt its back-to-back. The Penguins lost both ends of theirs.
Brandon Hagel reached 20 goals and had an assist, while Jake Guentzel had two helpers for Tampa Bay. Backup goalie Jonas Johansson stopped 31 shots.
The Lightning are 3-0-1 in their past four games and moved to 9-1-3 against the Metropolitan Division.
Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell netted his team-best 22nd goal and had an assist, and Kevin Hayes scored on the power play.
Sidney Crosby posted career assist No. 1,040, tying him with Marcel Dionne for 11th place.
The club fell to 1-3-3 in its past seven games.
Pittsburgh received bad news before the game as Michael Bunting was involved in a car wreck. The organization announced that the forward was fine but would not play.
Evgeni Malkin (upper body) missed his fourth straight game and was put on injured reserve, but fellow forward Philip Tomasino came off the IR after a four-game stint.
During a strong first period, Rakell got free and corralled a bouncing puck in the slot. The left wing then banged a shot at 14:20 that hit Johansson and dribbled in.
During four-on-four play at 6:54 of the second, Hagel pulled the puck back and fired home a high shot that beat Jarry on just the Lightning’s fourth shot on goal.
With its top line on the ice, Tampa Bay took its first lead when Kucherov scored on the club’s eighth shot at 16:04 for a 2-1 edge.
Inside the final minute, Johansson kept his team ahead with an agile kick save to deny Rakell his second marker.
On their second power play early in the third, Hayes tallied for the third time in five games with a tap-in at 2:17 off a pass from Rakell.
Jarry stuffed Hagel on a short-handed breakaway try near the 13-minute mark before Kucherov’s game-winner and the two empty-netters.
–Field Level Media
