PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins (21-14-10) were struck down by the Tampa Bay Lightning in a shootout (29-13-3) at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night as their woes in the shootout continued. It was Tampa Bay’s eleventh consecutive win, tying a franchise record. Arturs Silovs was the hard-luck loser, turning aside 30 of the Lightning’s 31 shots.

The Penguins have now lost seven of the eight games that have gone to a shootout this season.

The first period saw plenty of back-and-forth play, with the best scoring chances coming when the Lightning’s Brandon Hagel and the Penguins’ Chinakhov both rang pucks off the post. The Penguins’ second power play opportunity of the first period also produced some quality scoring chances, but Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky was equal to the task, stoning Bryan Rust from the slot and Evgeni Malkin’s backhand attempt from in tight.

The Penguins went back to the power play early in the second, and Vasilevsky had to be sharp once again, stopping a barrage of shots during what was the Penguins’ third power play opportunity.

Tampa Bay got their first opportunity on the power play at 10:20 of the second period and nearly took a 1-0 lead when defenseman Darren Raddysh unleashed a laser of a shot from the left point that beat Silovs clean, but rang off the crossbar. Less than a minute after killing off that penalty, Sidney Crosby went to the box for elbowing, putting the Lightning back on the power play. Silvos was solid again, keeping the puck out of his net against the vaunted Tampa Bay power play.

It continued the extended stellar play of the Penguins’ goaltending. Before Tuesday, the Penguins had limited opponents to a league-low 16 goals against since December 27th.

The teams exchanged high-quality chances at the start of the third period, but the intensity heightened at 16:50 when Penguins defenseman Connor Clifton boarded Brandon Hagel and immediately had to answer the bell and fight Anthony Cirelli.

Clifton earned a five-minute major for boarding and five minutes for fighting, while Cirelli received a minor for instigating and five minutes for fighting, which negated what would have been a full five-minute power play, limiting it to just a three-minute man advantage.

The Penguins’ penalty kill is again top-10 in the league and, like Clifton, answered the bell.

After all the quality chances, a seemingly harmless shot by Lightning center Yanni Gourde broke the scoreless stalemate. Gourde’s shot squirted out of Silov’s glove and was whacked in by Lightning forward J.J. Moser at 14:13 of the third.

Many in the building, including Penguns players, did not realize the puck had gone in, thinking Silovs had frozen the puck.

Silovs felt there should have been a whistle, but was diplomatic following the game.

As Penguins coach Dan Muse often does, he pulled the goalie with more than three minutes left in regulation.

This time it paid off.

With the extra skater, Evgeni Malkin grabbed a puck along the boards, fought off former teammate Jake Guentzel, and wristed the puck from the right circle stick side, past the Lightning netminder at 17:44 of the third to tie the game 1-1.

The teams exchanged quality chances in overtime, but the Penguins dominated with 4-1 shot advantage.

In the shootout, Lightning winger Gage Goncalves and Chinakhov scored, but Tampa Bay sniper Nikita Kucherov got the game-deciding goal, wristing it past Silovs.

Despite earning the point, the Penguins are now winless in three after winning six straight. They face their cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena as part of a three-game homestand

Penguins Notes

With defenseman Erik Karlsson being placed on IR with a lower-body injury that will keep him sidelined for a least two weeks, the Penguins recalled forward Tristan Broz and defenseman Ryan Graves from the AHL, while sending winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard back down.

Because of Karlsson’s absence, the Penguins’ defensive pairings took on a new look.

Penguins Lines

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Egor Chinakhov – Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin

Anthony Mantha – Ben Kindel – Justin Brazeau

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

Defense

Brett Kulak – Kris Letang

Parker Wotherspoon – Jack St. Ivany

Ryan Shea – Connor Clifton

Scratches for the Penguins were Kevin Hayes, Tristan Broz, and Ryan Graves

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Categorized: Penguins Postgame