Pittsburgh Penguins beat Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2: NHL Play-off Recap
James Neal lit the lamp with the game-winning goal in the extra session to lift Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Eastern Conference quarter-final series, at the St. Pete Times Forum on Wednesday night.
Tyler Kennedy and Arron Asham both also hit the net for Pittsburgh, which won two of the first three games, leading the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final matchup 3-1. Marc-Andre Fleury turned away 29 shots to earn the victory.
Martin St. Louis scored a goal and added an assist, while Sean Bergenheim also found the back of the net for Tampa Bay, which is looking for a much needed victory to keep its turnaround season alive. Dwayne Roloson stopped was impressive between the
pipes, but came up just short in the loss, making 50 saves.
"This is a long way from over," Roloson said. "We came back from 3-1 down twice when I played in Minnesota. We've got the character in this room to do it and we need to play our game for 60 minutes or for however many minutes it's going to take to
win."
Kennedy got Pittsburgh off to a good start on a power-play just a little over eight minutes into the opening period. After Mark Letestu won a face-off, Zbynek Michalek gave a return pass toKennedy, who fired a shot from the left circle that beat Roloson
on the short side for 1-0 lead.
Asham then gave Penguins two-goal advantage, 2-0, less than three minutes into the second period. It started when Ben Lovejoy unleashed a snap shot from the point, but Roloson kicked it away with the right pad. Asham, though, grabbed the rebound in
the slot and swept it between the Roloson's pads.
Tampa Bay cut the deficit in half, 2-1, with less than three minutes left in the second period. The play was set up by Vincent Lecavalier, who slipped the puck ahead to a streaking St. Louis, who then rushed up right wing and made a nifty move to avoid
a defender Lovejoy as the defenseman dived to get his stick on the puck, but St Louis jammed the puck home with a wrist shot.
It looked as if Pittsburgh might be able to hold on, when Lightning’s two power-play chances were killed late in the second period to stick to a 2-1 edge.
Bergenheim knotted the game at 1-1 with his first play-off goal with more than three minutes left in the final period, leading the game into extra session.
Tampa Bay failed to capitalise on its lone power-play in the first overtime, when Pittsburgh forward Craig Adams tripped Simon Gagne as the two were trying to hold a loose puck.
After a score-less first overtime, Neal sealed the win at 3-2 just less than four minutes into the second round, as he gathered the puck along the boards and picked an ideal time to knock it into the net from a sharp angle.
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