Pittsburgh Penguins Drop Game 1 to Lightning

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost game one of the Eastern Conference Final with a score of 3-1. Both sides suffered major losses and set the tone for the series.

The first thirty seconds of the Pittsburgh Penguins – Tampa Bay Lightning series showed us exactly what kind of hockey we’ll be seeing for the next couple weeks, and it’s a doozy. The Bolts’ strong forecheck put pressure on Matt Murray and the Pens early, with a puck narrowly bouncing off the goalpost and a broken stick on the same play.

Murray made a phenomenal save early on a cross-crease pass, sliding across the netfront and grabbing the puck nearly the second it left the forward’s blade. It’s easy to see why head coach Mike Sullivan kept the rookie in net.

Ryan Callahan hit Kris Letang from behind just under three minutes in and the defenseman went down hard. Callahan gave him a little slash as he pursued him after the puck, then clearly hit him hard in the numbers. Letang’s head snapped forward and he actually looked like he may have been unconscious for a few seconds; he eventually skated off and Callahan was given a five minute major penalty.

The Pens’ powerplay didn’t look too strong, even though they had five minutes to take advantage of. There was too much passing, which allowed for a few turnovers; one of which allowed Brian Boyle to gently pursue the puck toward Murray while not a single Penguin could even get a stick on the puck.

Luckily, the Pens started to regroup and get some momentum going. They prevented the Bolts from getting a shot off for over ten minutes.

Things soon took an unfortunate turn: Ben Bishop went out to play the puck behind his net and in the face of pressure, struggled to get back in position. He seemed to hurt either his groin or knee – very very badly – and went down in immense pain. The 6’7″ goalie eventually was stretchered off and backup Andrei Vasilevskiy came in net.

That’s never something you want to see, for any player. Hopefully Bishop isn’t injured too badly. While Bishop was being loaded onto the stretcher, Letang returned to the Pittsburgh bench, so that was at least a bit of good news for one side.

More from Penguins News

• Welcome To The Burgh: Lars Eller
• Penguins Waddle Toward The Season
• Farewell Carl Hagelin
• Penguins Line-up Breakdown vs Stanley Cup Champs Vegas
• Ryan Graves Solid Signing For The Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pens’ defense looked a little worse for the wear regardless. They allowed a few chances following the long stoppage in play and eventually Alex Killorn took advantage. Olli Maatta, who’s been even less than underwhelming, barely covered Killorn, who slid the puck five-hole.

I’m honestly pretty concerned about Maatta. He’s been through a lot health-wise, but his play has just not been up to par.

Just seconds later there was another bad injury. Chris Kunitz hit Tyler Johnson in an awkward knee-to-knee collision and the Tampa forward went down. He couldn’t put any weight on his leg and had to be helped to the locker room.

Twenty minutes into the series, and it’s a bloodbath.

Evgeni Malkin took a penalty early in the second for hooking Victor Hedman, giving the Bolts a powerplay opportunity. Ondrej Palat picked up a rebound and backhanded it into the net as he went down, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.

The Pens were entirely on their heels, missing a ton of prime opportunities and playing sloppily. They got another chance on the powerplay later as Nikita Nesterov was caught hooking, but still looked slow. The Pens tried to get the puck to Malkin as much as possible but he couldn’t convert, nor could anyone else.

Matt Cullen then headed to the box, and when he was freed he had a great chance in on Vasilevskiy alone. He got too fancy and couldn’t put it in, nor could Nick Bonino, whom he tried to pass to.

At this point, Johnson had returned for a few short shifts and looked okay skating if not entirely comfortable. Additionally, third-string goalie Kristers Gudlevskis had suited up and made his way to the Tampa bench.

The visiting team got a third goal before the period ran out thanks to Jonathan Drouin, and things looked bleak. Finally, though, the Pens made it onto the score sheet as well.

Hedman was caught tripping and took a seat in the penalty box; just seconds into the powerplay, Patric Hornqvist scored his team-leading sixth goal. Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel got the assists – Crosby’s thanks to a ridiculous between-the-legs backward pass to Hornqvist.

Though Sid hasn’t found the back of the net much in the playoffs, his overall play has still been pretty good.

The third period was fairly nondescript until the fourth player of the night went down. Palat ran Brian Dumoulin into the boards and slammed him headfirst into the glass. Palat only got two minutes for it though Dumo was facedown on the ice for a little while.

Hopefully these injuries are just a Friday the 13th fluke and the rest of the series will be injury-free for both sides.

Next: Pittsburgh Penguins' Round Two MVPs

Murray was pulled with just over two and a half minutes remaining but a Pittsburgh icing forced him back in. Patric Hornqvist would get a last-second penalty but it didn’t matter; the Bolts would take game one with a score of 3-1.

Game two will be Monday night and, hopefully, the Pens can rebound from this disaster.