In Pittsburgh, the Penguins stretched their point streak to eight games on Saturday afternoon, with a 5-4 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. 
It wasn’t easy. The Pens blew a 4-1 lead in the third period and needed a goal from Michael Bunting at 14:32 to give them a 5-4 lead they protected for the win.
“We made it exciting,” Bunting said. “Obviously, we want to hold those leads when we’re in them, but that’s a good hockey team over there.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 30 saves in the win.
The Penguins improved to 36-30-11 off their fourth straight win.
The win pushed the Penguins into the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Pens took a 1-0 lead in the first period on Sidney Crosby’s 40th goal of the year.
Crosby scored off an odd man rush at 4:20.
Evgeni Malkin pushed the lead to 2-0 at 6:06 of the middle frame.
Tampa got on the board when Steven Stamkos closed the gap to 2-1 at 12:15, hitting off the power play. It was his first of two on the afternoon.
“Second period, even though they jumped out to a 4-1 lead, I thought it was a lot more even,” Tampa’s Victor Hedman said. “Then in the third, we took over the game. … Happy with the way we came back there.”
Kris Letang made it 3-1 to the Penguins at 14:39, scoring on a shot from the point.
Malkin collected a double pushed 16:57, scoring off a rebound of his own shot for a 4-1 lead headed to the third period.
“I just give the players credit,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We hung in there. Tampa’s a really good team. They have one of the more dynamic offenses in the League. … I give our players credit. We hung in there.”
The Lightning dropped to 43-27-7
“These are tough games to play,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I can sit here after the fact and lament how we played the first two periods, but these guys have pushed so hard for so long now. We’re playing a team that has put themselves right in it. The League’s too tight to not be on the same emotional wavelength. And we weren’t.”
In the third, the Lightning found their offense.
Nicholas Paul started the rally with a goal at 25 seconds of the period, scoring from the left circle to close the gap to 4-2.
Anthony Duclair trimmed the deficit to one at 4-3 with a marker at 7:23, scoring from the high slot.
“I thought we just stayed with it,” Crosby said. “It didn’t feel like we did a lot wrong, but that’s a team that if you give them time and space, they’re going to convert.”
Stamkos collected his double midway through the third to tie the game, 4-4.
“It’s just disappointing because if we play like that all game, then we, maybe, have a different result,” Stamkos said. “A case of too little, too late.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves in the loss.
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