Final
Crosby still ill, but Penguins beat Bolts
Dec 16, 2014 - 3:56 AM Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - No Sidney Crosby, no problem.While their captain sits as a result of an outbreak of mumps which has beset multiple NHL teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins kept rolling with a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay at CONSOL Energy Center thanks to 28 saves by Marc-Andre Fleury and goals from four different players.
Brandon Sutter, Bryan Rust, Steve Downie and Brian Dumoulin tallied for the Penguins, who won for the fifth time in their last eight (5-1-2) games.
"It was a tough battle tonight," Fleury said of the Bolts, who are tied with idle Detroit atop the Atlantic Division.
Jonathan Drouin and Nikita Kucherov each scored once for the Lightning, who have lost four of their last five.
Ben Bishop allowed a goal on five shots in the first period before exiting with a lower-body injury. Evgeni Nabokov finished the contest with 18 stops in defeat.
"I thought we carried the play for a lot of the game, to be honest," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We scored three goals on ourselves; three went off us in the net. It's hard to win when you put three in the net. We put three in our net and two in theirs."
Dumoulin's drive from the right point boosted the Pens' edge to three goals with 7:47 gone in the third period, and it was needed as Kucherov slipped a shot between Fleury's pads with 3:04 to play.
Nabokov was pulled shortly thereafter for an extra attacker but the Lightning had no further strikes.
Sutter opened the scoring on a short-handed breakaway with 51 seconds left in the first period, when he beat Bishop under the crossbar from the right wing.
Tampa equalized on the next shift, with 26.2 on the clock, as Drouin popped in a Tyler Johnson rebound from atop the crease.
The hosts went up 2-1 at 2:55 of the second on Rust's milestone marker, a rising shot from between the circles, then went to intermission up 3-1 after Downie swatted home a Patric Hornqvist rebound with 34 seconds left.
"It's obviously something I've been looking forward to for a long time now," Rust said. "I was just happy to get into a game or two and I was just in the right place at the right time."
Game Notes
Crosby was revealed to be past the infectious phase of the illness ... Pens forward Beau Bennett is the latest player to show symptoms of the disease and was scratched as a result ... Dumoulin was a two-time national champion at Boston College (2010, 2012) ... Tampa Bay plays in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
- TAMPA BAY: 2
PITTSBURGH: 4
Final
Dec 15 9:34 PM - TAMPA BAY: 1
PITTSBURGH: 3
End of 2nd
Dec 15 8:40 PM - Pittsburgh Power-Play Goal - Kris Letang (8), at 19:26.
Lightning 1, Penguins 3 2nd - 0:34Dec 15 8:39 PM - TAMPA BAY: 1
PITTSBURGH: 1
End of 1st
Dec 15 7:44 PM - Tampa Bay Power-Play Goal - Jonathan Drouin (2), at 19:33.
Lightning 1, Penguins 1 1st - 0:27Dec 15 7:43 PM - Pittsburgh Short-Handed Goal - Brandon Sutter (7), at 19:09.
Lightning 0, Penguins 1 1st - 0:51Dec 15 7:41 PM - TAMPA BAY: 0
PITTSBURGH: 0
1st Period - 20:00
Dec 15 7:10 PM
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