On Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins took back home-ice advantage with a dominating 4-2 win on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3. The game featured two more goals from the red-hot “HBK Line” in Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin, and another goal from Sidney Crosby.
As the dust settled, the Penguins now command their first series lead up two games to one and now look to do some more damage to the Lightning that could potentially devastating.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pens kept their offense rolling into Amalie Arena after the overtime win in Game 2. They did everything that has gotten them to this point by controlling the game pace, creating multiple chances at once and playing good enough defense to slow down the young Lightning squad.
While everyone focuses on Crosby’s second goal in two games, the real story is the domination of the line now known as “HBK.” That line of Phil Kessel, Carl Hagelin and Nick Bonino, has been without question the Pens’ best line all postseason.
Since forming on March 13, the line has combined for 82 points in 29 games including regular and postseason. Nine of them have come in the first three games against the Lightning. The line’s new name has captured the hearts of Pittsburgh and even former WWE star, Shawn Michaels, because of the initials being reminiscent of his name during his wrestling heyday, The Heartbreak Kid.
The HBK line will need to continue to roll if the Penguins want to continue their success against the Lightning. In net, Matt Murray played his best game of the series to date in Game 3 by stopping 24 of 26 shots thrown his way. The confidence seemed to be glimmering for the 21-year-old after a rough start to the series, leaving any talk of a possible starting goalie change to be a mere myth.
The one injury concern for the black and gold lies with forward Patric Hornqvist. Hornqvist was being evaluated after blocking a shot with his hand in Game 3, but Head Coach Mike Sullivan has sounded confident in recent interviews that Hornqvist would play tonight.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The return to their friendly confines of Amalie Arena could not have been more of a disaster for the Lightning on Wednesday. For the second straight game, the Lightning were clearly the second-best team on the ice by a wide margin.
The Pens have made it rough on Lightning goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy in the last two games by rifling 89 shots at the backup. Vasilevsky has shown signs of brilliance in this series despite dropping the last two games after taking over midway through Game 1 for Ben Bishop. With Bishop seemingly out of net again, Vasilesvsky will need a herculean effort to get his Lightning back in the series.
Lightning Head Coach John Cooper reunited the famed “Triplets” line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov for Game 3, and it paid off with Johnson and Palat scoring goals. This line will need to carry the Bolts’ again like they did last postseason with Steven Stamkos still out after his blood clot surgery in early April. The quiet one of the bunch has been by far Kucherov. Kucherov still leads the team with nine goals this postseason, but has yet to tally one against the Penguins. Getting two points in Game 3 was a start for the 22-year-old, who looks for a much-needed breakout game in Game 4.
Prediction
To say this is a must-win is an understatement for the Lightning. They need to score at least one win on home-ice to keep the series interesting, or be stuck with a similar path that they had in 2011 against the Penguins where they fell behind 3-1 in the series before winning three straight to take the series.
These teams are far different from those in 2011. The Penguins have all the momentum and will look to stay perfect in Game 4’s this postseason with a win tonight. A win for the Pens could ultimately be the decisive blow, but this Lightning team has been in this spot before in previous series and have answered the call multiple times. This game will certainly change the course of this Eastern Conference Final for good.
Puck drop from Tampa comes at 8pm tonight on NBC Sports Network
