Of course, the Lightning have experience coming back from a 3-1 deficit against Pittsburgh having rallied to win three-straight games, including two in Pittsburgh, during a 2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal victory over the Penguins.
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Jonathan Drouin boosted Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-0 on a power-play goal with 5:22 remaining in the second period, adding to the Penguins’ woes after they failed on two extra-man chances of their own earlier in the middle period.
“I thought Marc made some big saves for us, especially early in the game”, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said, adding it was hard to gauge how much the long layoff impacted Fleury’s performance.
Might be time to find out if he’s right.
They won Game 2 in overtime, 3-2, but that game might not have made it to overtime had the Lightning not hit the crossbar with a little over five minutes to go with the game tied at 2.
The best-of-seven series continues on Sunday in Pittsburgh before returning to Tampa on Tuesday. The way he sees it, there really are no bad options. It’s not a flawless circumstance.
“I was never sitting there saying, ‘This game is trouble for us.’ And I don’t think anyone on our bench though that either”. “All things considered, we’re trying to make the best decisions we can”.
That point was hammered home after Penguins defenceman Kris Letang cost his team in this game by taking two penalties at once just past the midway point.
It’s playing with that kind of urgency Pittsburgh will focus on heading home, not who will be in net.
“We’re a puck possession team, and we don’t have the puck enough”, Lightning defenseman Matt Carle said. “We know we didn’t play that way the first half of the game and that’s what cost us”. He gave up four goals, the first off a deflection and the other three when he got hung out to dry. He did plenty more, blocking three shots and leading the Lightning with five shots on goal and four hits. He has a 53-44 record with a 2.64 goals-against average, 9.06 save percentage, eight shutouts and most importantly, a Stanley Cup. “My job doesn’t change”.
I’ll just leave you with a visual aid that remains the defining moment of Marc-Andre Fleury’s career. The Penguins didn’t provide any information about his injury. Sullivan said Daley would be re-examined once the team returned to Pittsburgh. He was active for the game after being evaluated and took the ice in the first two minutes of the game, wearing a face cage to protect the injury. “(Murray) has carried them to this point. We’ll find out soon, but the way the Pens played in front of Fleury in the third period won’t help Murray’s case. And really, I don’t think we ever lost control of that game. I’d been practicing for a while. “That’s going to take a lot of information gathering and a lot of different opinions.”. They haven’t given up 40 or more shots in two consecutive games since 2011.
Pittsburgh has gone from a 2-1 series lead to facing elimination for the first time this postseason after losing consecutively for the first time since January.
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“We’re not just going to stand there and watch a guy shoot the puck at one of our guys”, Boyle said.
