Pittsburgh Penguins Dominate Bolts in Game Three
The Pittsburgh Penguins dominated game three of the Eastern Conference Final, outshooting their opponents 48-28 and ultimately winning 4-2 to grab the series lead.
The Tampa Bay Lightning put a lot of pressure on the Pittsburgh Penguins early on, outshooting their visitors and pestering Matt Murray. The young goaltender stood strong in the face of the onslaught, looking like he’d rebounded from his subpar game two.
The Penguins made a few early turnovers – a thing that’s happened a bit too often recently – but also managed to get some good chances of their own. Matt Cullen had a solid chance on Andrei Vasilevskiy but the shot went wide. The tables seemed to turn after that point, as the Penguins peppered the Tampa goalie and had a lot of near misses.
The “HBK” line was a big part of that, sticking with the puck and aggressively playing up in the zone. Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino, and Carl Hagelin continued to show why they’re hot, hot, hot, right now.
There were a few missed penalties throughout the first period, including a JT Brown high-stick to Cullen’s face. The first one that was actually called, though, was against Pittsburgh’s Patric Hornqvist for slashing. Though no one scored in the first period, the Pens looked strong on the penalty kill and in the quick burst of even-strength time after it.
Conor Sheary, who saw minimal time during the third period in the last game, was bumped off Sidney Crosby‘s wing again tonight. Sheary has been great throughout his rookie campaign, but he’s been having a little bit of trouble with one-to-one matchups. Additionally, Chris Kunitz has been a little worse for the wear – but to his credit, he did make a big play to help bail out Murray tonight and even got on the board later (but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves).
The Penguins came out strong in the second period, strong again in their play and consistent in pressure. Ryan Callahan, who was back in the lineup tonight, took a holding penalty and gave the Penguins a powerplay chance.
The Bolts got a better chance as the powerplay ran down than any of the Penguins did on it. Three Tampa players went up ice with only Kris Letang in their way, but Letang did a phenomenal job taking away both the passing and shooting lanes and then saving a sure goal.
The back-and-forth momentum surges continued, as the Lightning let loose a barrage of shots on Murray. Between luck and shot-blocking, none went in, but there were definitely a few fluky bounces for each side.
Bonino sprung Kessel on a breakaway, but Kessel just couldn’t cash in. The way these guys were playing, you could just feel a goal coming.
Ben Lovejoy was actually pretty good tonight, making some solid defensive moves and even helping jumpstart plays up the ice, something you don’t see out of him that often. Evgeni Malkin was also a force to be reckoned with, and you could really see how hard he was playing.
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The Penguins outshot the Bolts 21-6 in the second period, and simply putting pucks on net finally paid off. With just seconds left in the period the Pens’ killer third line cashed in: Kessel shot the puck toward Vasilevskiy, who coughed up a rebound right to Hagelin.
Early in the third period, the HBK Line struck again. This time, Kessel scored – giving him a team-leading seventh postseason goal. He made a great move in letting the puck slip past him to Bonino, who drew the attention of the Bolts’ defense. He moved the puck back to Kessel in the slot, who put it away.
Less than fifteen seconds later, the Bolts got on the board. Tyler Johnson scored and brought his team back within one. Murray probably should have had it – it looked like it went between his arm and body – but it happens.
A few minutes later, tensions exploded as Johnson managed to knee Murray in the head. Murray went down but stayed in the game. Following the play, Letang and Bonino dove into a scrum with Johnson and Ondrej Palat, leading to calls on Letang and Palat.
During the four-on-four, Braydon Coburn elbowed Hagelin smack in the face. Coburn joined Palat in the sin bin and gave the Penguins another advantage. Captain Crosby kept his hot streak going and scored a beauty.
The floodgates had opened and there was no shutting them now. Chris Kunitz scored one more to widen the gap to three goals. He was in the right place at the right time, picking up an rebound and whipping it past Vasilevskiy before the goalie could even make a move.
Coburn took another penalty for attempting to decapitate a Penguin, this time whacking Bryan Rust in the face/neck area with a high stick. The Pens’ powerplay was lackluster and they didn’t take advantage of this one. They can’t afford to lay off at all, even with a 4-1 lead.
Need more evidence of that? Ondrej Palat somehow scored right from the slot with about 100 seconds left to narrow the Pens’ lead again. Murray should have had that one: no one was screening him and it went right over his glove. The Bolts pulled Vasilevskiy in hopes of a last-minute comeback.
Murray made a phenomenal glove save just moments later, though, trying to atone for his errors. Nikita Kucherov sent a rocket in from the blue line and Murray gloved it out of the air. Right after the save, Trevor Daley and Alex Killorn got into it. Both received minor penalties for roughing while Killorn also got a game misconduct. Not that it mattered, though, because only a few seconds remained.
The Penguins came away with a 4-2 win and now a 2-1 series lead. Murray picked up his ninth playoff win and the players in front of him did a great job of helping him out with that. The Penguins stepped up with the intensity of their play tonight and showed why putting pucks on net is never a bad idea.
Next: Penguins: Are Two Goalies Better than One?
A thing of note: Hornqvist took a puck to the hand late in the game and headed to the locker room almost immediately. He didn’t return to the game, and if he’s injured badly then that could throw the Pens for a little bit of a loop. Here’s hoping that he’s alright!
The next game is Friday night at 8 pm, and the Penguins will look to widen that series lead even more before they head home to Pittsburgh.