Evgeni Malkin had three goals and two assists Sunday afternoon as the Penguins handed the Lightning their seventh consecutive loss, leaving Tampa Bay without any wins in the month of January.
Matt Gilroy, Ryan Malone, and Teddy Purcell all scored in the third period for the Lightning, who were behind by three goals. All of Tampa Bays goals came within 4:50 of each other.
After tying up the game and having most of the momentum, the Lightning lost control of the game, allowing the Penguins to score three unanswered goals.
Tampa Bay was outshot 17-5 in the first period and had yet another dismal start to the game, ultimately doing them in. The Lightning have been outscored 54-30 by the opponent in the first period and have been playing from behind in the bulk of this season's games.
James Neal scored first for the Penguins, when he put a goal past Mathieu Garon on a bad angle shot at 2:34. The Penguins went ahead by two at 10:38 when Richard Park's wrist shot beat Garon's left shoulder.
Tampa Bay was sloppy on the puck and spent too much time in its own zone in the first period, something that is happening more and more every game. When did this team forget how to pass and forget how to set up in the offensive zone?
After a scoreless second period, Neal scored his second goal of the game 34 seconds into the third period to make it a 3-0 game.
The Lightning's three goal rally began with Matt Gilroy's first goal of the season when he put one past Marc-Andre Fleury at 2:00 of the third period. A few minutes later, Vincent Lecavalier fed Ryan Malone to make it a 3-2 game on the power play. Bruno Gervaisthen fired a shot at the net, leading to Teddy Purcell scoring on the rebound at 6:50 of the third period.
Although the Lightning put together an impressive comeback, it eventually ended when Malkin scored three straight goals. Malkin's first two goals came within a 1:49 span in the third period, capped off by an empty netter with 53 seconds left in the game.