The Pittsburgh Penguins had a two-game winning streak going before getting tripped up on Thursday night by the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.
The Lightning struck first with a goal by forward Anthony Cirelli in the opening period before the Penguins responded with back-to-back goals by forwards Rickard Rakell and Egor Chinakhov before the end of the frame.
Then the wheels fell off for the Penguins, as Tampa Bay scored five consecutive goals from the second to the third period. Chinakhov stopped the bleeding for Pittsburgh's offense with a power-play goal with two seconds left in regulation, but that was too little and too late for Pittsburgh, which suffered a 6-3 defeat.
Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson had a straightforward way to describe what went down in the game.
“They out-smarted and out-worked us,” the three-time Norris Trophy winner said about the Lightning's dominance, via Penguins beat writer Josh Yohe.
Cirelli emerged as the biggest thorn in the side of Karlsson and the Penguins, as he found the back of the net three times for his second career hat trick in the NHL.
And as a team, the Lightning outshot Pittsburgh by a large margin, 33-25. The Penguins contained Tampa Bay's special teams, holding the Lightning 0-for-3 on power plays, but the home team dominated in other areas.
Despite the loss, the Penguins are still in good shape. They are third in the Metropolitan Division standings with 92 points, three more than the New York Islanders and four ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Pittsburgh next returns home to play the Florida Panthers in consecutive games on Saturday and Sunday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
