All the hallmarks of the Penguins’ recent run of better play — high energy, better attention to detail in the defensive zone and game-saving goaltending — were decidedly absent Tuesday, as the team sleepwalked its way to a dreadful 6-1 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.
“We just didn’t play well enough,” coach Mike Sullivan told reporters after the game. “Most of the first, I don’t think it was all that bad. It just seemed like every chance went in the net. It was one of those nights.”
The Lightning put the game away with a quick flurry of goals in the first period. Anthony Cirelli opened the scoring. The Penguins turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and a point shot from Ryan McDonagh bounced off Nick Paul in the crease and changed directions. Starting goalie Tristan Jarry was caught out of position, and Cirelli slid the puck through his five hole.
Jarry didn’t stand much of a chance on the Lightning’s second goal, as a pass from McDonagh looking for Jake Guentzel at the back post ricocheted off the skate of Rickard Rakell into the net. Cirelli added another shortly after, beating Jarry with a short-side wrister for his sixth goal in as many games, one the goalie would probably like back.
The Lightning’s fourth goal was a microcosm of the night. Nikita Kucherov, who earned his 100th point of the season on the play, found Guentzel alone skating down the left side of the slot after Conor Timmins was late to react. Jarry saved Guentzel’s wrister, but a lackadaisical Erik Karlsson, despite decent position, allowed Brayden Point to reach the puck first and he tapped it in.
Sullivan pulled Jarry after he allowed four goals on seven shots faced. Despite the 29-year-old netminder’s improved play since his return from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he left Tuesday’s contest having allowed more goals (four) than saves made (three). Tampa Bay’s first-period tallies came in a span of just 3:47, the fastest four-goal stretch in the NHL this season.
“There’s not an excuse — our line’s gotta be better playing against Cirelli’s line there,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby lamented. “They’re a dangerous line obviously. Kucherov, Point and [Guentzel] get a lot of attention, but they’re also a good line and we gave up some early ones there and gave them momentum.”
Even as the Penguins allowed four goals in the first period for the first time since they gave up six to the Dallas Stars on Nov. 11, the offensive end wasn’t much better. The Penguins only put four shots on Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first frame, matching their fewest in an opening period all season.
The Penguins earned a few half-chances from those few opportunities. Blake Lizotte hit Vasilevskiy’s post with the team’s first shot of the game, and Joona Koppanen and Connor Dewar forced the goalie into two saves while short-handed.
But the energy didn’t pick up. After just four shots on goal in the first period, the Penguins matched that output in the second. The defensive energy didn’t improve much, either, and the Penguins paid the price.
“This team’s played hard for a lot of games here,” Sullivan said. “I thought we came out with the right intentions in the third period. But when you get down that many goals early, it’s a tough mountain to climb, especially against a team like that.”
Nedeljkovic made a strong stop on Point after he deked Ryan Graves out of his skates at the blue line. But Nedeljkovic, who briefly settled the game down when he entered in relief of Jarry, couldn’t hold the fort forever. Kucherov (power play goal) and Brandon Hagel scored in the second period to confirm the Penguins’ embarrassment.
Bryan Rust broke up Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid with 5:45 remaining with a redirect from a Matt Grzelcyk point shot. Crosby picked up an assist on the play and is now one point away from guaranteeing his 20th point-per-game season, which would break Wayne Gretzky’s long-standing record.
Banged-up blue line
As if the final score wasn’t bad enough, the Penguins also might have added injury to insult.
Grzelcyk skated back toward his own net to retrieve the puck off the opening faceoff of the second period, where he was met with a crunching — but clean — hit into the wall by Tampa Bay’s Hagel. Grzelcyk, who is experiencing a bit of a renaissance in Pittsburgh with a career-best 33 points, stayed doubled over in pain for a minute or two before gingerly skating back to the bench and going back down the tunnel. Grzelcyk, slightly miraculously, returned to the contest seven minutes later.
Meanwhile, recent waiver wire acquisition Vladislav Kolyachonok appeared to injure his arm sometime during Tuesday’s contest. Though he never left the game and Grzelcyk eventually returned, their health statuses could be something to watch for the Penguins, who were without star center Evgeni Malkin, who was scratched with an upper-body injury. Emil Bemstrom slotted back into the lineup in his place.
Imama in the box
Though Boko Imama and his fourth linemates didn’t play much Tuesday — the 28-year-old only logged 5:41 of ice time — he made his mark physically and perhaps frustratedly.
Imama spent most of the third period in the penalty box after taking a run at Hagel, the Lightning forward who crushed Grzelcyk earlier in the evening. Imama got two or three good slashes at Hagel’s legs and threw a half-hearted fist near his head before he was whisked away to the penalty box.
Imama’s antics earned him a two-minute slashing penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct.
First Published: March 26, 2025, 1:58 a.m.
Updated: March 26, 2025, 1:43 p.m.
