PENGUINS MAKE STATEMENT AGAINST THE LIGHTNING

PITTSBURGH 4, TAMPA BAY 2

WHEN: 8:00 PM ET, Wednesday, January 30, 2019
WHERE: PPG PAINTS Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
REFEREES: Brad Meier, Graham Skilliter
LINESMEN: Shandor Alphonso, Greg Devorski
ATTENDANCE: 18514

Kris Letang and Phil Kessel each had a goal and an assist Wednesday as the Pittsburgh Penguins downed the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2.

Riley Sheahan and Sidney Crosby also scored, and Evgeni Malkin added two assists for Pittsburgh.

Goaltender Matt Murray made 33 saves for the Penguins. He is 11-2 in 13 starts since he returned from a lower-body injury.

The Penguins had lost two in a row and four of five, and were critical of their recent play after a loss to New Jersey on Monday. With the win, they knocked off the top team in the NHL.

J.T. Miller and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning after the team trailed 4-0. Tampa Bay has lost three of its past five games.

Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up four goals on 22 shots.

Tampa Bay had been off since Jan. 19, before a bye week, the All-Star break and a couple extra days with no games scheduled.

Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead in the first period.

Sheahan gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 3:25 when he scored on a rebound of Garrett Wilson's wraparound attempt.

Off a give-and-go with Bryan Rust, Kessel scored from nearly beyond the right post as he drove by the net to make it 2-0 at 8:05 of the first. Malkin picked up the secondary assist, the 600th of his career.

Crosby scored to make it 3-0 16 seconds after Kessel's goal. Tampa Bay's Brayden Point turned the puck over behind his net, and Dominik Simon set up Crosby near the left post.

During four-on-four play, Letang took a light-touch feed from Kessel. His shot from the right circle beat Vasilevskiy to the far side. It was Letang's 108th career goal, tying him with Paul Coffey for the Pittsburgh record for goals by a defenseman.

In a rarity among elite players, Malkin and Stamkos had a short fight at 1:40 of the third period.

Miller broke up Murray's shutout bid at 15:50 of the third, and Stamkos made it 4-2 with 2:04 left.

TOP GAME PERFORMANCES

TAMPA BAY		PITTSBURGH
J.T. Miller 1	Points	Phil Kessel 2
J.T. Miller 1	Goals	Phil Kessel 1
Victor Hedman 1	Assists	Evgeni Malkin 2
Steven Stamkos 1	Power Play Goals	N/A
N/A	Short Handed Goals	N/A
Andrei Vasilevskiy .818	Save Percentage	Matt Murray .943
Andrei Vasilevskiy 18	Saves	Matt Murray 33

TEAM STATS SUMMARY

TEAM	SHOTS	GOALS	POWER PLAY	PENALTY KILL	PENALTY MINS	FACE OFFS WON
TAMPA BAY	35	2	1-2	3-3	15	31
PITTSBURGH	22	4	0-3	1-2	13	26

MY 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1^ST STAR: Kris Letang, D – PIT, 1 Goals, 1 Assists

2^ND STAR: Phil Kessel, RW – PIT, 1 Goals, 1 Assists

3^RD START: Evgeni Malkin, C – PIT, 0 Goals, 2 Assists

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD 3:25 Penguins Riley Sheahan (7) Assists: Garrett Wilson, Kris Letang 0 1 8:05 Penguins Phil Kessel (21) Assists: Bryan Rust, Evgeni Malkin 0 2 8:21 Penguins Sidney Crosby (22) Assists: Dominik Simon 0 3

2ND PERIOD 6:02 Penguins Kris Letang (12) Assists: Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin 0 4

3RD PERIOD 15:50 Lightning J.T. Miller (8) Assists: Alex Killorn, Ryan McDonagh 1 4 17:56 Lightning Steven Stamkos (27) (Power Play) Assists: Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman 2 4

FINAL SCORING SUMMARY

FINAL	1	2	3	T
TAMPA BAY	0	0	2	2
PITTSBURGH	3	1	0	4

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

Player	POS	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	SOG	SHF	TOI	EV	PP	SH	PP	SH	HT	BS	FW	FL	FO%
Louis Domingue	G	0	0	0		0	0		0:00	0:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Andrei Vasilevskiy	G	0	0	0		0	0		58:26	51:45	2:15	4:26	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Dan Girardi	D	0	0	0	-2	0	3	21	18:03	15:55	0:00	2:08	0	0	5	2	-	-	-
Anton Stralman	D	0	0	0	E	0	2	23	17:36	15:43	0:07	1:46	0	0	2	1	-	-	-
Mathieu Joseph	RW	0	0	0	-1	0	2	18	10:08	9:32	0:00	0:36	0	0	3	-	0	1	0
Tyler Johnson	C	0	0	0	-1	0	2	23	18:18	18:01	0:00	0:17	0	0	4	1	1	5	17
J.T. Miller	C	1	0	1	+1	0	2	17	11:04	10:57	0:07	0:00	0	0	2	1	2	0	100
Cedric Paquette	C	0	0	0	-1	4	1	17	10:29	10:03	0:00	0:26	0	0	7	-	4	7	36
Alex Killorn	LW	0	1	1	+1	2	4	20	12:06	11:14	0:07	0:45	0	0	6	-	-	-	-
Ondrej Palat	LW	0	0	0	-1	0	2	18	15:07	13:02	1:44	0:21	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Brayden Point	C	0	0	0	-1	0	3	24	22:14	20:06	2:08	0:00	0	0	2	2	5	6	45
Ryan McDonagh	D	0	1	1	-1	2	2	26	20:35	19:06	0:00	1:29	0	0	2	-	-	-	-
Yanni Gourde	C	0	0	0	-1	0	1	19	14:08	12:30	0:24	1:14	0	0	2	-	6	1	86
Anthony Cirelli	C	0	0	0	+1	0	0	22	14:25	12:23	0:07	1:55	0	0	9	1	8	2	80
Adam Erne	LW	0	0	0	-1	2	1	14	9:21	9:21	0:00	0:00	0	0	1	1	-	-	-
Victor Hedman	D	0	1	1	-2	0	4	26	24:57	19:54	2:08	2:55	0	0	2	1	0	1	0
Erik Cernak	D	0	0	0	E	0	0	25	18:52	17:52	0:00	1:00	0	0	6	2	-	-	-
Nikita Kucherov	RW	0	1	1	-2	0	2	25	22:29	20:21	2:08	0:00	0	0	2	1	-	-	-
Steven Stamkos	C	1	0	1	-2	5	2	19	17:10	13:44	2:08	1:18	1	0	1	-	5	3	62
Mikhail Sergachev	D	0	0	0	-1	0	2	22	16:32	16:25	0:07	0:00	0	0	3	3	-	-	-

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Player	POS	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	SOG	SHF	TOI	EV	PP	SH	PP	SH	HT	BS	FW	FL	FO%
Casey DeSmith	G	0	0	0		0	0		0:00	0:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Matt Murray	G	0	0	0		0	0		60:00	53:19	4:26	2:15	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Olli Maatta	D	0	0	0	E	0	0	26	17:55	15:12	1:01	1:42	0	0	1	3	-	-	-
Matt Cullen	C	0	0	0	-1	2	0	21	14:53	14:14	0:00	0:39	0	0	-	1	4	9	31
Brian Dumoulin	D	0	0	0	+1	2	0	27	21:18	20:45	0:00	0:33	0	0	2	1	-	-	-
Garrett Wilson	LW	0	1	1	+1	0	1	9	6:00	6:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	6	-	-	-	-
Dominik Simon	LW	0	1	1	+1	0	1	23	18:16	16:20	1:56	0:00	0	0	1	-	-	-	-
Tanner Pearson	LW	0	0	0	E	0	0	19	12:05	10:48	1:17	0:00	0	0	1	-	-	-	-
Riley Sheahan	C	1	0	1	+1	0	2	14	8:43	8:28	0:00	0:15	0	0	2	1	0	2	0
Bryan Rust	RW	0	1	1	+1	0	0	24	16:03	15:15	0:00	0:48	0	0	1	-	-	-	-
Marcus Pettersson	D	0	0	0	E	0	0	26	18:16	16:48	1:28	0:00	0	0	2	-	-	-	-
Juuso Riikola	D	0	0	0	+1	0	0	22	16:09	14:15	1:54	0:00	0	0	4	-	-	-	-
Teddy Blueger	C	0	0	0	+1	2	0	10	6:22	6:22	0:00	0:00	0	0	1	1	1	4	20
Kris Letang	D	1	1	2	+3	0	5	29	27:28	23:57	2:58	0:33	0	0	3	4	-	-	-
Jake Guentzel	LW	0	0	0	E	0	6	25	21:33	18:26	1:40	1:27	0	0	1	3	1	0	100
Evgeni Malkin	C	0	2	2	+2	7	2	22	16:58	15:27	1:31	0:00	0	0	1	1	4	5	44
Patric Hornqvist	RW	0	0	0	-1	0	1	18	14:25	11:39	2:46	0:00	0	0	1	-	0	1	0
Jack Johnson	D	0	0	0	+1	0	2	24	17:29	15:47	0:00	1:42	0	0	8	1	-	-	-
Phil Kessel	RW	1	1	2	+2	0	1	24	19:52	17:06	2:46	0:00	0	0	-	1	1	0	100
Sidney Crosby	C	1	0	1	+1	0	1	26	22:00	17:46	2:53	1:21	0	0	4	-	15	10	60

Goaltending

Tampa Bay
	Shots	Saves	GA	SV %	PIM	TOI
Andrei Vasilevskiy L (20-7-2)	22	18	4	.818	0	58:26

Pittsburgh
	Shots	Saves	GA	SV %	PIM	TOI
Matt Murray W (15-7-1)	35	33	2	.943	0	60:00