With a chance to clinch a Stanley Cup Final berth for the second straight year, the Tampa Bay Lightning laid an egg early and couldn't recover.
Penguins stars shine, stave off elimination in dominant Game 6 win in Tampa Bay
Evgeni Malkin was right: We’re headed back to Pittsburgh for Game 7.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Facing elimination in Game 6, the Pittsburgh Penguins played a nearly perfect road game to the tune of a 5-2 win to force Game 7 in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Sidney Crosby led Pittsburgh with a goal and an assist. A day after guaranteeing a win, Evgeni Malkin finished with a single assist as well. Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up four goals on 33 shots in the loss.
For the second night in a row, one of the evening’s first goals was deposited with a baseball swing. Victor Hedman’s delay of game penalty on the penalty kill gave the hungry Penguins a coveted 5-on-3 chance in the first period. Crosby and Malkin assisted on a goal that Phil Kessel hit out of mid-air into the net.
Tampa Bay's ineffectiveness offensively allowed Pittsburgh to widen the lead in the second period. At 7:40, defenseman Kris Letang called for a pass as he skated into the offensive zone and fired the puck past Vasilevskiy for a 2-0 lead. Crosby made his mark in the waning seconds of the frame to extend the lead to three goals.
The goal was Crosby’s third tally and fifth point of the series, and his 15th point in 17 playoff games this year. By the end of the second period, the Lightning had only accumulated eleven shots on net.
They nearly equaled that output in the opening ten minutes of the first period, outshooting Pittsburgh 9-3. An early drive to the Pittsburgh net resulted in a shot that deflected off Phil Kessel's stick past Penguins goalie Matt Murray to make the score 3-1.
Tampa's rally continued in earnest. Brian Boyle scored his second of the game with a slick wrist shot minutes later to bring the Lightning within a goal. But their comeback dreams died hard with two minutes left, as Bryan Rust earned a breakaway and beat Vasilevskiy with a deke to restore Pittsburgh's two-goal lead. Nick Bonino scored on an empty Lightning net to seal the 5-2 win and send the series back to Pittsburgh.
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