Evgeni Malkin scored the game-winner late in regulation, and the Pittsburgh Penguins won 4-3 in a controversial finish against the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
After his club blew a 3-0 lead, Malkin, who had two goals and an assist, broke the tie by sweeping in a pass from Tommy Novak, who had two assists, at 17:17 of the third period.
With Tampa Bay goaltender Jonas Johansson (27 saves) pulled, Nikita Kucherov appeared to tie the score, but the situation room in Toronto initiated a review and determined Brandon Hagel had touched the puck earlier with his glove and created a hand pass, negating the goal.
Pittsburgh’s Ville Koivunen registered his first NHL goal, hitting the net on the power play in his 24th game, and Ben Kindel scored. Tristan Jarry made 37 saves.
Captain Sidney Crosby played in his 1,378th regular-season game, all for Pittsburgh, to tie him with Joe Sakic (Colorado) for the 13th-most games played with only one organization.
Hagel scored twice, Kucherov had a goal and an assist and Darren Raddysh posted two helpers.
Running the Penguins’ second power-play unit, point man Kris Letang drew the defense to the right side and dished a pass to the 22-year-old Koivunen, who lifted a shot from the left circle over Johansson 6:12 into the game.
Malkin doubled the lead in the second period when he found a loose puck, took off on a breakaway, opened up Johansson and slid one through the pads at 7:53.
From the slot, Kindel tipped in Erik Karlsson’s shot-pass nearly two minutes later for a 3-0 edge and a second man-advantage marker.
However, Kucherov gave his club life when he went to the back door and tapped in a goal at 18:46. Jake Guentzel collected an assist for career point No. 599.
Hagel scored his team-leading 16th and 17th goals in the third period. He struck on the power play at 1:17 and tied the game at 11:44.
–Field Level Media
