Penguins
Penguins Game 73, Bolt Action; Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs. Lightning
The Pittsburgh Penguins (29-32-11) are not going gently into that good night this season. The team has surged to a 5-1-1 record over their last seven games and are enjoying themselves in the process. They’ll face another bonafide Stanley Cup contender Tuesday when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning (40-25-5) at Amalie Arena.
The puck drops just after 7 p.m.
The Penguins raced to a 3-1 lead over the Florida Panthers Sunday. Winger Bryan Rust scored a pair of highlight-worthy goals: a backhand sweep past defenseman Nate Schmidt and an amazing one-handed deflection of Sidney Crosby’s one-bounce pass.
However, Florida gathered itself for an overwhelming third-period push, in which they had 30 shot attempts and a lopsided scoring chance ratio. In fact, the Penguins had just one high danger scoring chance in the final 40 minutes and lost 4-3 in a shootout.
Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry was again a difference-maker. He stopped 27 of 31 shots but got the Penguins to extra time for the point.
Tampa Bay has lost its last two games, 4-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights and 6-4 against the Utah Hockey Club. The team is comfortably in third place of the Atlantic Division, with a chance to win the division or earn home ice for Round One. With one game in hand, Tampa Bay trails Florida by four points. They trail second-place Toronto Maple Leafs by two points.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has been rolling with Jarry as the No. 1 goalie while the team auditions him for the role moving forward. Andrei Vasilevskiy is likely to start for Tampa Bay.
Overall, the Penguins have “climbed” to the eighth overall draft pick.
Penguins Lines
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Connor Dewar-Evgeni Malkin-Philip Tomasino
Joona Koppanen-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Danton Heinen-Kevin Hayes-Boko Imama
Defense
Conor Timmons-Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves-Vladislv Kolyachonok
Goalie: Tristan Jarry
Lightning Lines
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel-Brayden Point-Yanni Gourde
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Nick Paul-Gage Goncalves
Zemgus Girgensons-Luke Glendening
Defense
Victor Hedman-JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh-Erik Černák
Emil Lilleberg-Nick Perbix
Darren Raddysh
Goalie:Â Andrei Vasilevskiy
Special Teams
Penguins power play: 24.5%, 9th. Penguins penalty kill: 77.2%, 18th.
Lightning power play: 25.8%, 5th. Lightning penalty kill: 82.7%, 6th.
Penguins Game Notes
The Penguins have points in seven of their last nine games against Tampa Bay (6-2-1). The Penguins have points in eight of their last 11 games against the Lightning (7-3-1) and have won four of their last five games.
Jarry is 6-4-1 with a 2.54 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage, and one goal in 11 career games against Tampa Bay.
Sidney Crosby is just two points away from guaranteeing himself his 20th point-per-game season, which would break the NHL record of 19 set by Wayne Gretzky.
Crosby is on an active seven-game scoring streak. He has 12 points, including six goals, in the seven games.
How to Watch
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio: 105.9 The X
Dan, answer me this: Every sportswriter and sportscaster talks about Sid being 2 points away from breaking Gretzky’s consecutive pt/game/season record (Probably the one record The Great One figured was safe!). Why is nobody, mentioning the fact that this is Sid’s 20th season in the league and he has done this every season!! Why isn’t that getting mentioned? 20 years in the show and every year he’s been a pt/game/season guy! To me that makes Sid”s accomplishment even more eye-popping!!
Oh heavens not Graves — against a team with any talent and speed he may as well play the forward position