- TAMPA BAY: The Tampa Bay Lightning came alive for a second successive game to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Monday and force a deciding Game Seven in their first-round playoff series.
After staving off elimination by routing the Penguins 8-2 on Saturday, the Lightning closed Monday’s game with third period goals from Steve Downie and Ryan Malone to snap a 2-2 tie and level the best-of-seven series at 3-3.
“It’s going to be fun,” Malone told reporters. “We worked hard to get to this point. We’re going to go in there, try to establish ourselves early and see what happens.”
The Penguins, who had held a 3-1 series lead despite the absence of injured forward Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, have been outmatched in the last two games as Tampa Bay has rediscovered its offensive spark.
Pascal Dupuis scored the opening goal of the game in the first for Pittsburgh while Jordan Staal tied the game at 2-2 in the third before the Lightning struck and seized the momentum ahead of the decider on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.