Kucherov has 3 points, Lightning defeat Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Nikita Kucherov scored twice, including a go-ahead goal at 16:57 of the third period, and had an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Kucherov put the Lightning in front 3-2 by driving to the net and scoring with a wrist shot and his 20th goal this season. He then set up an empty-net goal from Anthony Cirelli to make it 4-2 at 18:48 before Nick Paul also scored into an empty net at 19:39 for the 5-2 final.

“Every team’s got a couple players that are outstanding, elite,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We happen to have a couple of them. ... It’s hard to explain because, as a team, you’re grinding and grinding and grinding. You’re looking for somebody to make a play. We’ve just seen ‘Kuch’ do it time and time again.”

Brandon Hagel and Cirelli each had a goal and an assist, Jake Guentzel had two assists, and Jonas Johansson made 31 saves for the Lightning (23-15-3), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games. They lost 3-2 in overtime at the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Rickard Rakell had a goal and an assist, Kevin Hayes scored, and Tristan Jarry made 14 saves for the Penguins (18-19-8), who have lost six of seven (1-3-3), including 5-0 to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

"They're two different games. I mean, yesterday, we didn't really give ourselves a chance at all,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. “Tonight, I thought we deserved better, but you don't get points for playing well. You’ve got to find a way to win games.”

Rakell put the Penguins ahead 1-0 at 14:20 of the first period on his team-leading 22nd goal, a wrist shot from the slot off a pass from Bryan Rust.

Tampa Bay was outshot 14-2 in the first and had one shot on goal at 5-on-5.

“A lot of guys stepped up and said we needed to be better,” Cirelli said. “Obviously, that’s not the way we wanted to come out. They pushed. I thought we regrouped out there in the first. We just have to be a lot harder to play against, we have to be a lot faster, bring a little bit more emotion to the game. I thought, as the game went on, we did that.”

Hagel tied it 1-1 on the Lightning’s fourth shot at 6:54 of the second period. He carried the puck around Erik Karlsson to the left face-off circle before scoring with a wrist shot for his 20th goal.

Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 16:04 with a one-timer from just outside the high slot.

“Our best players stepped up. That was ‘Kuch,’” Hagel said. “Hats off to him. He can change a game and he did tonight.”

Hayes then tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 2:17 of the third period, scoring with a wrist shot from just outside the crease after Rakell tapped Hayes’ own rebound back to him.

“The team is competing hard,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Tonight is another example of it. It’s unfortunate how the game unraveled there in the last couple of minutes because for the majority of the night, we really liked our overall team game.”

Hagel had a chance to put the Lightning back in front on a short-handed breakaway at 7:03, but Jarry made a pad save.

“It’s tough. A loss is a loss, at the end of the day,” Jarry said. “But I thought the team played well. We did a good job. We were in their zone most of the night. Just the chances that Tampa got were good chances. They were grade-A chances. That’s what it was tonight.”

NOTES: Hagel and Kucherov are the third and fourth Lightning players to score 20 goals this season, joining Brayden Point (25) and Guentzel (21). The 1995-96 Penguins were the last team to have at least four players with 20 goals through the first 41 games. ... Pittsburgh forward Michael Bunting did not play after being involved in an auto accident outside of the arena prior to the game. He did not sustain any serious injuries, Sullivan said. ... Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin was placed on injured reserve and missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Pittsburgh forward Philip Tomasino played 13:36 of ice time in his return from being sidelined four games with a lower-body injury.