PITTSBURGH _ The Lightning are the league's top scoring team, but couldn't get on the board early enough on Wednesday.
Ten days between games translated to a sloppy start and the Penguins struck quickly, three goals in the opening nine minutes to sink the Lightning.
J.T. Miller broke the shutout bid with four minutes left and Steven Stamkos added another, but the damage had been done as Tampa Bay lost, 4-2.
You couldn't blame goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy for any of those first three goals, really.
In fact, he made two nice saves immediately before the first goal. First Vasilevskiy made a pad save on Kris Letang, coming in on the rush. Then, he made a nearly-full-split toe save on a wraparound by Garrett Wilson. Riley Sheahan pounced on the rebound, sending over the still-sprawled Vasilevskiy.
Defenseman Dan Girardi was beat on the original entry and then no one cleared the Penguins from the net front, allowing for continued chances. Thus, Pittsburgh got on the board first at 3:25.
The Penguins took a two-goal lead on a two-on-one. Vasilevskiy played Bryan Rust's angle well, cutting off his attempt to go forehand-to-backhand across the crease. Phil Kessel, the other half of the two-on-one, was there to tap it in, however.
Then, 16 seconds later, Sidney Crosby made it 3-0. Brayden Point turned the puck over from behind the net and Domink Simon fought off Erik Cernak to pass to a wide-open Crosby.
After that, what was already a sloppy game became chippy.
How chippy did this get? Evgeni Malkin and Stamkos dropped the gloves. Malkin has three fights in his 13-year career and Stamkos has four in his 11 seasons. The fight was mostly a bear hug, but they each got in a few punches.
It started earlier, just after the third goal. Ryan McDonagh and Patrick Hornqvist exchanged shoves at the blue line, way away from the play, and McDonagh ended up in the box for a high stick. Just 26 seconds later, Cedric Paquette hit Malkin in the corner and was called for interference. Players paired off in heavy shoving matches, and that was before Pittsburgh started its extended five-on-three (proving coach Jon Cooper right in his statement that there's always one between these teams).
Another full-team scrum broke out a few minutes into the second period. Alex Killorn's shot took him to his knees and he let his momentum carry him into goalie Matt Murray, delivering a jab when he got there. Predictably, the Penguins didn't take too kindly to that.
During the ensuing four-on-four, Letang made it 4-0. He landed a nice wrist shot from the right dot on the rush, beating Vasilevskiy cleanly, 6:02 into the period.
The team scrums (and penalties) didn't end there. In the end, the teams combined for 27 penalties.
The Lightning had 16 shots in the first period, most of which came after going down three goals, but then only had 15 in the rest of the game. The team couldn't find its legs after the long break.
The two practices it had on Monday and Tuesday weren't the same as a game.
Miller landed his goal late in the game. He scored on a wrist shot in the high slot. Stamkos scored a power-play goal, as the puck banked off Murray's pad and into the net.
The two goals prevented the shutout and made the deficit more respectable, but it was no moral victory. The Lightning barely celebrated either goal.
