In Tampa Bay, the Lightning raised their Stanley Cup banner and the Pittsburgh Penguins razed the festivities in a 6-2 decision to open the NHL’s 2021-22 season.
Danton Heinen and Brian Boyle scored in the middle frame to give the Pens a 2-0 lead after a scoreless first period.
Boyle signed with the Penguins earlier in the day.
“That was awesome to see,” Heinen said. “It was a nice goal too. He’s such a great guy, always smiling, a great teammate to have. It was awesome to see.”
Six different skaters struck for the Penguins.
“Well, it’s a big win for us,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Obviously, that’s a really good team we’re playing against. It’s a real emotional night for them. It’s one of those games that can go either way.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy. I thought we played the game that we’re trying to play. We were doing everything in fives in all three zones, and that’s when our team is at its best.”
Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for the win.
“You see the guys we had step up with ‘Boyler’ and Danton coming in,” Jarry said. “They got huge goals for us, and that brings big positivity to our bench. That helped a lot, and I think that helped us get the win.”
Dominik Simon scored early in the third period for a 3-0 Pittsburgh lead.
“[Pittsburgh] came here to win a hockey game,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “We came here and watched the (Stanley Cup) banner-raising and then watched a team want to win a hockey game. We did a lot of watching tonight.”
Tampa’s Anthony Cirelli broke through to snap the shut out big to make the score 3-1.
“It was a dud,” Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos said. “I can’t remember the last time we lost a home opener. It’s been a long time. [The Penguins] had a depleted lineup with some really good players missing and they worked extremely hard tonight. They stuck to their structure and outworked us. We were chasing the puck all night.”
Teddy Blueger replied 20 seconds after the Cirelli goal for a 4-1 Pens lead on an empty net strike, before the Bolts’ Alex Killorn scored two minutes later to close the gap to 4-2.
Evan Rodrigues and Bryan Rust (empty net) scored in the 18th and 19th minutes, respectively, to close out the scoring.
Andrei Vasilevskiy took the loss on 29 saves.
“It’s a process, but definitely I think we proved that we can play against a team like Tampa and we can play well and we can win,” Simon said. “I think that was big.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.