Evgeni Malkin drives Penguins to dominant win against Lightning

February is the shortest month of the year. And the Pittsburgh Penguins probably don’t mind that.

Throughout that span of 28 days, they had a 6-3-1 record but were outscored 28-27. It was the only month this season in which they were in the red in terms of goal differential.

Their first game of March — a road contest against the powerful Tampa Bay Lightning — demanded a cleaner and crisper approach than what they offered throughout most of February.

“It’s a big test for us,” Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues said Tuesday. “I think it’s something we need. We have to start playing the right way and getting these wins, playing almost playoff-type hockey. It will be a good test for us.”

The Penguins aced that test Thursday with a dominant 5-1 win against the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup champions at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.

Buoyed by a quick start, the Penguins swarmed the Lightning throughout the night and dominated puck possession as evidenced by their 40-21 advantage in shots.

“It was one of our more complete efforts all year long,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said to media in Tampa after the game. “Throughout our lineup, we had contributions from everybody on both sides of the puck. What was probably the most encouraging part was our third period. I thought we continued to play the game on our toes. We created a lot of offense through our defense.

“When we do that, we’re hard to play against.”

Of course, having a former MVP such as Evgeni Malkin collect three points (one goal, two assists) will always increase the level of difficulty for the opposition.

“I think he had the puck on his stick for like nine minutes tonight,” quipped Penguins forward Bryan Rust, whom no one would mistake for Peter Henlein. “That just pretty much says it all. When he has the puck and he’s doing what he’s capable of and he’s confident, I think other teams better watch out because he’s been awesome lately.”

That was apparent early in this game as the Penguins took the game’s first lead 3:46 into regulation. Circumnavigating his way through the neutral zone, Malkin gained the offensive zone and dished a small-area pass to the right-wing boards for linemate Kasperi Kapanen. Working his way up ice, Kapanen lifted a wrister from the right circle that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy booted out. Penguins forward Danton Heinen crashed in from the slot and tapped in the rebound past Vasilevskiy’s right skate for his 12th goal of the season. Kapanen and Malkin had assists. For Malkin, he extended a scoring streak to seven games.

A power-play score put the Penguins up 2-0 at 6:27 of the first period. From the right half wall, Malkin slipped a pass to the right of the net for Penguins forward Jake Guentzel. Instead of firing a wrister on net from in tight, Guentzel spun to his right and slid the puck to the left circle for Penguins forward Sidney Crosby. With Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh leaning down for a block attempt, Crosby lifted a wrister over McDonagh’s right leg and Vasilevskiy’s blocker on the near side for his 17th goal. Guentzel and Malkin netted assists.

The hosts got on the scoreboard at the 6:20 mark of the second period. From his own right half wall, Lightning forward Corey Perry lofted a puck to the neutral zone. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang tried to settle the puck and dish it with a backhand pass attempt at his own blue line to partner Brian Dumoulin but ended up donating it directly to Lightning forward Patrick Maroon. Settling the puck, Maroon fed a pass to linemate Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the right circle. From there, Bellemare attacked the net and slipped a forehand shot through goaltender Tristan Jarry’s legs for his seventh goal. Maroon recorded the lone assist.

Lightning forward Steven Stamkos had an optimal chance to tie the score at 15:18 of the second with a mostly uncontested wrister from the slot that glanced off the crossbar.

That misfire proved to be vital as the Penguins claimed a 3-1 lead less than two minutes later at the 17:08 mark. After an errant pass in the offensive zone by Lightning forward Ondrej Palat in the offensive zone, Rodrigues turned up ice and flicked a forehand pass to the center red line, springing linemate Brock McGinn on a breakaway. Streaking in on the cage, McGinn snapped a wrister past Vasilevskiy’s blocker for his 11th goal of the season and first since Jan. 25. The only assist went to Rodrigues.

“Keep with it,” McGinn said in reference to snapping a 13-game streak without a goal. “You’ve just got to go out there and keep playing the same way. Hopefully, the bounces come your way.”

More success came the Penguins’ way as Malkin delivered the coup de grace at 5:14 of the third period with this 10th goal. After Bellemare fumbled the puck at the Penguins’ blue line — thanks to pressure from Malkin — Heinen claimed possession and chipped a breakout pass for Malkin, sending him on a breakaway from the center red line. Coasting in, Malkin snapped a wrister past Vasilevskiy’s glove. Heinen had the only assist.

“That was (Malkin’s) best game of the year to this point,” Sullivan said. “With each game, he’s getting better and better. (Thursday), I thought he was just in beast mode, the way he commanded the puck. It just followed him around tonight. That’s when you know he’s at his best.”

The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker fairly early, but all that tactic resulted in was an empty-net goal for Guentzel, his 26th, at 14:00 of the third. Letang and Crosby tallied assists.

Jarry had a fairly easy night, as he only faced 21 shots and his record improved to 27-11-6.

Things don’t figure to get easier for the Penguins on Friday as they will face the Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C.

The Hurricanes enter Friday in first place of the Division with a 37-12-5 record and 79 points, three more than the second-place Penguins (34-14-8, 76 points).

The Penguins enter Friday with plenty of confidence as a result of one of their most thorough victories of the season.

“If we play the way can and the way we want to and the way that we know that we’re capable of,” Rust said. “I think we can do some pretty good things.”

Notes:

• Letang and Lightning forward Brayden Point fought late in the first period at the 19:54 mark.

It was Letang’s first fighting major since he battled Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie on May 3, 2018.

• Following a multiplayer scrum in the Penguins’ crease that resulted in a power-play opportunity for the visitors at 19:06 of the second, referee Wes McCauley ejected Lightning coach Jon Cooper from the game after Cooper’s protests failed to cease (or possibly crossed a line in terms of vocabulary).

• After the game, Cooper openely questioned McCauley and even the Penguins’ status as the least penalized team in the NHL.

“It was shock that we were short-handed,” Cooper said. “That team, for some reason, they’re by far the lowest penalized team in the league. I’m not sure why but they are. For us to go down again, to be (short-handed) in that situation, it was a little frustrating. (McCauley) goes over, he goes to their bench and gives them an explanation. He never comes to ours. I would have liked the courtesy there. I’m not so sure in all the years, what I said is something that he like he’d never heard before in his history of ‘reffing.’ So, I’d want to know what that was.

“As a head coach, you have a duty to coach the game. At times, you do get a little emotional and stuff like that. … I don’t know what I invented that had me tossed out. No. 4 (McCauley’s number) saw it that way, I guess.”

Cooper was asked if he received any explanation for his ejection.

“I don’t know,” Cooper said. “It was an arm pointing to the exit. That as the explanation that I got. Ask their coach. He got an explanation. I didn’t.”

• Officially, the Lightning bench was assessed a minor penalty for abuse of officials.

• Including Thursday’s game, the Penguins have averaged 6.48 penalty minutes per contest, least in the NHL.

• Malkin (1,128 points) surpassed forwards Mike Bossy and Joe Nieuwendyk (1,126 each) - each enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame - for 60th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Penguins forward Jeff Carter appeared in his 50th game of the season. As per the conditions of the trade the Penguins made for Carter with the Los Angeles Kings last April, that marker upgraded to the 2023 fourth-round draft pick the Penguins dealt to the Kings to a third-round selection.

• Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson (undisclosed injury) as well as forward Kasper Bjorkqvist and defenseman P.O Joseph (healthy) were scratched.