A three-goal first period for the Penguins on home ice sent them to a 4-2 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.
Matt Murray made 33 saves for the win.
His stint on the injured reserve for a lower body injury must have fixed his injury as well as his game; Murray is 11-2-0 since returning to the lineup.
“We knew coming in [the Lightning] were going to be a really good test for us,” Murray said. “They’re so dynamic. They’re at the top of the League for a reason, so I thought we played a solid game and did a pretty good job, I think, throughout.”
Kris Letang, Riley Sheahan, Sidney Crosby, and Phil Kessel scored Pittsburgh to build a 4-0 lead before the Lightning were able to break through.
“I know from being around this group of players for as long as I have that when we have some personality on our bench then we usually bring it to the ice. We had it tonight. There was some chatter on the bench. There was a little bit of swagger that I think is important,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said of his team.
J.T. Miller and Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa when the game was already out of hand.
“We made three mistakes and they all end up in our net,” Tampa head coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s tough to come back from that hole. But you leave that first period and the guys, obviously down 3-0, weren’t dejected. … Clawed back a little bit, but still you’re down four. It’s tough.”
The Bolts dropped to 37-11-2.
[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Penguins highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves in the loss.
“To have a first period where we did a lot of good things but the score didn’t indicate that, it’s just, what are you going to do? We had some looks,” Stamkos said. “We had some offensive-zone time, for sure, in the first. It would’ve been nice to get one.”
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