Penguins Lose 6-3 Against Lightning, Cirelli Scores Hat Trick

 

Photo via Tampa Bay Lightning

The Penguins took a 6-3 loss on Thursday when they visited the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have been alternating between wins and losses, while the Penguins had a two-game winning streak. The Penguins defeated the Islanders 8-3, going on to secure a 5-1 victory against the Detroit Red Wings before falling to the Lightning. Egor Chinakhov, who's been hot since joining the Pittsburgh lineup, netted two goals. Rickard Rakell also found the back of the net. Anthony Cirelli scored a hat trick for Tampa Bay, leading them to victory with Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stood tall between the pipes, making 21 saves. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Zemgus Girgensons also scored. The Penguins return home on Saturday for a weekend home stand against the Florida Panthers, while the Lightning will host the Boston Bruins.

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:

Chinakov - Crosby - Rust

Novak - Kindel - Malkin

Mantha - Rakell - Brazeau

Soderblom - Dewar - Acciari

Wotherspoon - Karlsson

Girard - Letang

Shea - Clifton

Skinner

Silovs

Tampa Bay Lightning Lineup:

Guentzel - Point - Kucherov

Bjorkstrand - Cirelli - Goncalves

Girgensons - Gourde - Holmberg

Perry - Paul - Chaffee

Moser - Raddysh

McDonagh - Cernak

D'Astous - Lilleberg

Vasilevskiy

Johansson

Early into the opening frame, Anthony Cirelli put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0 at 14:54, off a rebound in the slot where he buried it glove side. A pass by Ben Kindel was intercepted by Gage Goncalves in the defensive zone before he fired a snap shot that went off Stuart Skinner's blocker from above the right face-off circle, and it rebounded to Cirelli. Rickard Rakell tied it not long after the Lightning goal at 12:59 when Samuel Girard got the puck from Kris Letang, skating behind the net, and the puck deflected off two of the Lightning defenders to Rakell, who was on the left and went skate-to-stick behind his back before stuffing it in at the left post past Andrei Vasilevskiy. This was Rakell's 21st goal of the season. Egor Chinakov gave the Penguins their first lead of the night when he scored his 20th goal of the season with 3:50 to go in the first period after receiving a pass from Bryan Rust as he was skating into Tampa Bay's end, and he skated into the right circle, lifting a backhander under Vasilevskiy's right arm.

Cirelli put in his second of the night past Skinner only 11 seconds into the second period with a backhand over Skinner's left pad while on a short-handed breakaway to make it 2-2. Later in the period, Brayden Point got the lead back 3-2 at 5:52, recording his 18th goal of the season. He took a pass from Nikita Kucherov before handing it off to Jake Guentzel, who was denied by Skinner before he followed the rebound of his shot behind the net, knocked it out in front, and Point picked it up, chipping it over Skinner's glove. With 55 seconds to go, Zemgus Girgensons increased the lead to 4-2 off a backhanded pass from Yanni Gourde, who was behind the net, sending it in front to Girgensons, who went forehand-backhand before tucking the puck around Skinner's left pad.

With 6:10 on the clock in the third period, Kucherov found the back of the net at a sharp angle from the right circle with a wrist shot, scoring his 41st of the season to make it 5-2. Cirelli finished his second career hat trick at 4:07 off a pass from Gage Goncalves, pushing it to 6-2 before Chinakov cut the deficit to 6-3 with only 2 seconds to go, scoring a power-play goal for his second goal of the night.

Notes:

- Stuart Skinner made a total of 27 saves for Pittsburgh.

- This was Elmer Soderblom's 100th NHL career game.

- Kris Letang and Samuel Girard each collected a pair of assists.

- Rickard Rakell extended his goal streak to three games.

- Anthony Cirelli's first goal of the night was his 145th career goal, tying Freddy Modin for the 10th most in Lightning history. ...This was his 16th career multi-goal game, surpassing Ondrej Palat (15 GP) for the ninth most in Lightning history. ...With his hat trick, he is the fourth Lightning player this season to complete one, which is tied for the fourth most in a season in franchise history. Only other campaigns with more: 2023-14 (6), 2011-12 (6), and 2024-25 (5).

- Cirelli's hat trick was the second of his career, and his first since January 17th, 2020.

- With his goal against the Penguins, Zemgus Girgensons hit the 100-goal mark of his career.

- Nikita Kucherov had a three-point night, scoring one goal and recording two assists. ...This was his 19th three-point game of the season, tying Peter Stastny (19 GP 1982-83) for the seventh most in a single season by a player born outside North America.

- Both Gage Goncalves and Jake Guentzel recorded two assists.

- Penguins: 38-22-16, have won two straight and three of four.

- Lightning: 47-22-6, and are 7-1-2 in their past 10.