Crosby roars to life, sinks Lightning in OT
Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper doesn’t accept the premise that Pittsburgh Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are not producing.
“I don’t know how dry they are,” Cooper said Sunday. “Doesn’t Crosby have 11 points in the playoffs? That’s probably a lot more than other guys who are playing right now. I think Sidney’s dry spell is most players’ hot spell.”
Perhaps Cooper had a sense of foreboding, because a day later Crosby scored 40 seconds into overtime Monday night to give the Penguins a 3-2 win that ties the Eastern Conference final 1-1. Game 3 is Wednesday in Tampa.
Crosby had gone eight games without a goal before converting a perfect feed from Bryan Rust for the game-winner.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan had started to tinker with his lines in the third period and had moved Rust up from the fourth line to the top line to play with Crosby.
The Penguins had to put 40 shots on Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to produce the win. He played a strong game in place of No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop, who was out with a lower body injury.
Although Vasilevskiy is 21, he has experience in big games. He had to replace injured Bishop in last year’s Stanley Cup Final and won that game.
After giving up first-period goals to Matt Cullen (4:32) and Phil Kessel (9:37), Vasilevskiy didn’t show the Penguins much net until Crosby beat him in overtime.
The Lightning had an added spark in the game because defenseman Anton Stralman returned to the lineup for the first time in seven weeks and scored their first goal.
Malkin has scored one goal in his last nine games.
“They’re elite players for a reason,” Cooper said Sunday. “Every game you go without having them on the score sheet, it gives you a little bit better chance to win.”
The Lightning couldn’t stop them both for two consecutive games, and now the series is tied.
With the series moving to Tampa, the Lightning will have the benefit of the last line change. They can match up any line they want against Crosby’s line or Malkin’s line.