Nikita Kucherov scores late in the third period to push the Lightning past the Penguins

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan 12, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — Nikita Kucherov scored twice Sunday, including the winner late in the third period, to push the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Penguins, 5-2, at PPG Paints Arena.

The Penguins scored early in the third to tie the score, but Kucherov stole the puck from Noel Acciari at the Pittsburgh blue line and beat Tristan Jarry on a breakaway.

It was a disappointing result for the Penguins, the better team the first 40 minutes.

To start the game, the Penguins had the right kind of response after their no-show loss to the Ottawa Senators here Saturday. They outshot the Lightning, 14-2, in the opening period and took a 1-0 lead when Rickard Rakell scored on a broken play.

Rakell remains one the NHL’s hottest players, with 15 goals in the last 22 games.

But the Lightning were the better team in the second period and pumped two goals past Tristan Jarry. Brandon Hagel scored at 4-on-4, faking out Erik Karlsson off the rush then wiring one upstairs. Kucherov’s one-timer gave the visitors a 2-1 lead.

The Penguins had an excellent opportunity to tie the score in the last minute of the second period, but Jonas Johansson got his skate on Bryan Rust’s shot and Rakell could not lift the rebound over the right pad of Johansson, who was on his belly.

So, despite holding a 24-9 edge in shots, they trailed heading into the third period.

It was the power play, which went 0 for 6 against Ottawa with a shorthanded goal against, that would enable the Penguins to tie up the score, 2-2, early in the third. Kevin Hayes, who was on their top unit Sunday because Michael Bunting was out of the lineup, fought off a defender to tap a pass from Rakell in behind Johansson.

But Kucherov scored with 3:03 left to hand the Penguins their second straight loss.

Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul tacked on late goals to make the score look lopsided.

Ice chips

— The Penguins activated Philip Tomasino from injured reserve and he returned to the lineup after missing four games due to a lower-body injury. To make room for him on the roster, the team placed Evgeni Malkin on injured reserve. Sullivan said there was no change with Malkin’s status. The veteran center remains day to day.

— Ryan Graves and Ryan Shea were again the healthy scratches for the Penguins.

— Jake Guentzel fooled the referees with a flop in the second period. He made it seem as if Jesse Puljujarvi hit him up high and Puljujarvi was assessed a minor penalty for the play. But a video review showed there was little, if any, contact up high. The result was two minutes of 4-on-4 action, during which Hagel scored his goal.

— Acciari played just two shifts during the first period after getting tangled up with Guentzel and crashing hard into his own net. He came back in the second period.

— During the second period, a portion of the PPG Paints Arena crowd jeered a man who apparently snatched a puck from a young fan. As game action went on, other fans booed him and chanted “Give him the puck!” It was loud enough that players on both benches tried to see what was going on. Eventually, the situation cooled.

Coming up

The Penguins have a scheduled day off Monday. They will wrap up their five-game homestand Tuesday night when they host the Seattle Kraken at PPG Paints Arena.

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