Penguins get a different view of Lightning in early rematch

Coming into Tuesday night’s game against the Penguins, the Tampa Bay Lightning had one of the more bizarre stats in the NHL.

They had yet to enjoy a lead in a game before it ended.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions arrived at PPG Paints Arena 2-3-1. But one of those wins came in the waning seconds of a 2-1 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals. The other was a 7-6 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings.

In none of their first six games did Tampa Bay hold a regulation lead.

That changed Tuesday as the Lightning scored 31 seconds into the second period on a Brayden Point backhand to break a scoreless tie and give coach Jon Cooper’s team its first advantage of the season.

Brayden, how dare you. pic.twitter.com/wxmzDyrmgx

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 27, 2021

“They were stretching three guys,” Penguins defenseman John Marino said. “Point had a ton of speed. Kinda caught us by surprise … Overall, we have to do a better job of staying on top of them.”

The Lightning followed up with two more goals in the second period to make it 3-0. And suddenly the Penguins were playing catch-up against the NHL’s best team over the last three seasons.

That’s a vastly different feeling than manipulating a 3-0 advantage through the middle of the third period as the Pens did in Tampa during the banner raising game to open the season earlier this month.

The Penguins went on to win that game 6-2. But climbing uphill from 3-0 down after 40 minutes was a 180-degree difference on Tuesday.

“They are a high-powered offense,” said Penguins winger Jason Zucker. “When you give them the opportunity to play offense like that, they are going to take advantage of it.”

That’s all true. Although Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said that playing with a lead may have benefited the Lightning even more from a defensive point of view.

“When you have the luxury of a one, or two, or three goal lead, you don’t have to manufacture offense,” Sullivan said. “You can just defend and take what the game gives you. That team knows how to defend. They have a really good team. That’s why they won championships.”

When shots did get through Tampa Bay’s defense, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 of 30. He was particularly sharp on a few flurries in the second period when the Penguins looked like they might even the game at 1-1. And, again, when the Lightning were already up 3-0.

For all those reasons, Tampa Bay’s failure to own a regulation lead wasn’t the only season-long streak to end.

So was the Penguins’ point streak. The 5-1 regulation defeat was the first game out of six so far where the Penguins failed to earn at least one point.