Tampa, FL (Sports Network) – Martin St. Louis scored a pair of third-period goals as Tampa Bay rallied from a two-goal first-period deficit to down Pittsburgh, 5-3, at St. Pete Times Forum.
Vincent Lecavalier, Teddy Purcell and Dana Tyrell also scored for the Lightning, which had dropped their two previous home games. Steven Stamkos contributed three assists.
Starter Mike Smith was pulled after allowing three goals on seven shots in just over 12 minutes of action. Dan Ellis picked up the win by halting the remaining 24 shots by Pittsburgh.
Craig Adams notched a goal and two helpers for the Penguins, who have lost two in a row after a four-game win streak.
Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis also lit the lamp, but Marc-Andre Fleury faltered late and allowed four goals on 30 shots in the setback.
Pittsburgh went up 3-1 with 7:45 to play in the first period when Adams hit Dupuis with a lead pass on the left wing that was converted into a successful backhander. The score signaled the end of Smith’s game for Ellis.
Tampa got back within a goal with 3:20 remaining when Purcell ripped a shot home from the left circle.
Lecavalier cut the Lightning deficit to one at the 8:43 mark of the second period, a gift 5-on-3 power-play goal off a St. Louis dish, but the Bolts failed to snap the tie on the one-man edge that followed.
Sean Bergenheim was hooked from behind by Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin on a short-handed breakaway with 6:09 left in the second, but Fleury stopped his shot with the glove.
St. Louis gave the Bolts a 4-3 edge at 6:40 of the third period, when he fended off a Pens checker, moved around Fleury and lifted a backhander home.
Ellis made a glove stop on an Alex Goligoski point drive with 1:34 remaining, and seconds later the Pens went with an extra attacker.
St. Louis then shook off a checker and hit the clincher into the empty net with 30.8 seconds to play.
Tyrell opened the scoring with his first NHL goal just 2:51 into the contest, and when Dupuis was sent off for holding less than 20 seconds later, the Lightning were poised to extend that lead.
Unfortunately, the advantage resulted in a 2-1 deficit as Adams and Cooke tallied shorthanded goals within a 61-second span.
Game Notes
Coming into the game, the Penguins had won five of their last six games at Tampa…St. Louis recorded his third multi-point effort of the young season and his first three-point game since March 6, 2010 against Atlanta…This was Adams’ first multi-point game of the season and his first three-point effort since December 13, 2005 against Chicago when he played for Carolina.
10/27 22:34:28 ET