PITTSBURGH — The mood inside PPG Paints Arena, pure jubilation after the Penguins exploded for five goals in the span of four minutes, 27 seconds Sunday, could not have been more different than it was inside this building just three nights earlier.
This time, it was the home team that was blowing the doors off a Cup hopeful, with goal after goal after goal scored on poor Tampa Bay goalie Brian Elliott.
It was a get-right night for a number of Pittsburgh’s most maligned players, with Teddy Blueger, Jeff Carter and Brian Dumoulin part of the scoring spree.
And, at least for one night, chants of “Let’s go Pens!” and cheers for a sudden “chili goal” replaced the “Fire Hextall” jeers we heard here in Thursday’s loss.
After putting six goals on the Jumbotron in the second period, the Penguins cruised to a 7-3 win versus the Lightning, their second victory in as many days.
The Penguins were coming off a dominant effort, albeit one that required a winning goal in overtime, in Saturday’s win over the St. Louis Blues. Coach Mike Sullivan was pleased with the intensity and resiliency they showed in that one, even if it did come against a Blues team that has sold off several core pieces.
Sunday night, they faced a much stiffer test in the Lightning, who have once again established themselves as one of the Eastern Conference’s top clubs.
They trailed 2-1 in the second period when Evgeni Malkin burst out of the box.
Malkin, one of the stars from Saturday’s 3-2 win in St. Louis, spun to pull in Josh Archibald’s long pass at the Lightning blue line, then had plenty of time to pick his spot on Elliott as he skated in on a breakaway. He chose five-hole.
The Penguins steadily built up steam as the second period went on and then they nearly blew the lid off the building with five goals in the final five minutes.
Sidney Crosby finished off Jake Guentzel’s clever backdoor pass for a power-play goal. Fifty-two seconds later, Blueger buried his first goal since Dec. 6.
Marcus Pettersson’s errant shot from the point took a crazy carom off the PPG Paints Arena end boards and skittered into the blue paint. Blueger charged in and fought off Brayden Point to score and snap his 32-game goal drought.
Blueger celebrated appropriately, dropping to one knee and pumping both fists as he let out a scream. His Penguins teammates were pretty pumped, too.
That goal propelled them to three more in quick succession. Carter came off the bench and sniped Elliott. Then Zucker roofed a backhand on the veteran backup. Dumoulin’s slapper with five seconds left in the period pushed it to 7-2.
The PPG Paints Arena crowd roared, one of the largest ovations this season.
That was a sharp contrast from Thursday’s 7-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, when fans booed the Penguins, groaned when Crosby and his teammates turned down open looks and called for general manager Ron Hextall’s dismissal.
The Penguins would coast to a rare win in the second half of a back-to-back.
Entering Sunday, they were 2-7-2 in that scenario. They were last victorious on Dec. 10, sweeping a home-and-away against the Buffalo Sabres that weekend.
The Penguins grabbed the early lead Sunday on a Drew O’Connor deflection 3:20 in, the sixth time in seven games they scored first. But they had another of their lapses and trailed after 20 minutes. Anthony Cirelli scored in fluky fashion. Nikita Kucherov used his magical mitts to make it 2-1 two minutes later.
But the Penguins scored six consecutive goals to pull away from the Lightning.
ICE CHIPS
— Seven different Penguins scored Sunday and 13 notched at least one point.
— Crosby’s goal gave him 70 points on the season. He became the first active NHL player and 14th all-time to reach 70 points in a season at least 13 times.
— Kucherov’s goal was scored at 4-on-4 after the Penguins wiped out their power play with a penalty of their own, a common occurrence in recent weeks.
— Ryan Poehling and Mark Friedman remained sidelined due to their injuries. Chad Ruhwedel was the lone healthy scratch, sitting out his second straight.
— Pittsburgh legend Donnie Iris sang the national anthem prior to puck-drop. Iris, celebrating his 80th birthday, was given a No. 80 jersey by the Penguins.
STAT N’AT
4:27 – That five-goal outburst was the second quickest in franchise history. In 1972, the Penguins did it in 2:07, which still stands as the NHL record today.
COMING UP
The Penguins won’t practice Monday before traveling to Nashville, the first stop on a three-game road trip. They will play the Predators on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
