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Penguins Even NHL Series With Lightning

Published on May 25 2016 6:27 am
Last Updated on May 25 2016 6:28 am

The Pittsburgh Penguins made good on Evgeni Malkin's pledge to force Game 7 in the Eastern Conference final.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Nick Bonino also scored Tuesday night in a 5-2 victory that evened the best-of-seven series with the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-3.

Game 7 is Thursday night, with the Penguins hoping to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009 and the Lightning looking to advance to the Cup Final for the second straight year.

"I just told them to embrace the moment," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "It's a great opportunity for us. These are the type of circumstances to where you have an opportunity to write your own story.

"They had a certain mindset going into this tonight: 'We're going to leave it all out there and do everything we can to bring this back to Pittsburgh.' And, certainly that's what they did."

Malkin was the most demonstrative of the players expressing confidence the Penguins could take the series back to Pittsburgh, saying he believed in himself and his teammates and that they could return home for a seventh game "for sure."

Crosby stepped up with his third game-winning goal of the series. The Penguins captain assisted on Kessel's 5-on-3 power-play goal in the opening period and later skated around Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman into the clear before sending a wrist shot between goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's legs for a 3-0 lead in the final minute of the second period.

"We know the circumstances," Crosby said. "It makes you go out there with a mindset of playing desperate. I think we had confidence in the whole group. I think everyone played great.

"Everyone contributed in their own way. In a big game like this you, don't do anything special, just do your job. I think that's gotten us this far."

Tuesday, May 24 Scoreboard

Pittsburgh 5, Tampa Bay 2

Game 6 - Series tied 3-3

Wednesday, May 25 Schedule (Time Central)

St. Louis at San Jose

Game 6 - Sharks lead 3-2, 8 p.m.

Thursday, May 26 Schedule (Time Central)

Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh

Game 7* - Lightning lead 3-2, 7 p.m.

Friday, May 27 Schedule (Time Central)

San Jose at St. Louis