TAMPA, Fla. -- It is a cliche to say that a team battled until the final second of a game to try to avoid defeat.
It usually isn't a literal truth, either.
This time, it was.
That's because Kris Letang nearly scored with a few tenths of a second remaining in regulation, coming within millimeters of getting a goal that would have pushed the Penguins' game against the Lightning at Amalie Arena into overtime:
But after a video review that lasted longer some Hollywood marriages, league officials in Toronto determined that there was no conclusive evidence that Letang's shot had crossed the goal line before Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy gloved it, so the original call on the ice -- no goal -- stood.
And so did the final score: Lightning 3, Penguins 2.
It had to be, on some levels, an excruciating defeat for the Penguins. After all, they got a 45-save performance from backup goalie Tristan Jarry, a highlight-reel goal by Brandon Tanev and an impressive effort from just about everyone else who stepped onto the ice Wednesday night -- and nothing in the standings to show for any of it.
Aside from a third consecutive "L," anyway.
But it also should be cause for optimism, because the Penguins confronted some serious adversity -- venturing into a hostile venue, playing on consecutive nights against a rested opponent and challenging what might be the league's most loaded lineup -- and did not wilt. If anything, they elevated their game when their situation looked most dire.
Like when Cedric Pacquette deflected a Ryan McDonagh shot past Jarry at 7:07 of the third period to tie the game 2-2, and the Penguins responded with some of their strongest work of the night. Or when Victor Hedman scored what proved to be the game-winner with 56.8 seconds to go in the third period, as he lashed a slap shot through a screen and past Jarry during a power play, only to have the Penguins respond with a furious assault that culminated in Letang's near-goal.
"We pushed back," Mike Sullivan said. "I like our mindset. We're resilient right now. The adversities we face in the game, guys are reacting the right way to them, and that's all you can do: Control your own attitude, your effort, your execution. When things don't go the way you want out there, that's when you get tested the most."
The Penguins passed most of those tests, but that doesn't mean their game was without blemishes. Sam Lafferty failed to score on a shorthanded breakaway, and several teammates were unable to capitalize on quality chances. The Penguins were again caught with too many men on the ice. And Zach Aston-Reese and Jake Guentzel were assessed minor penalties in the final five minutes of a tied game, giving the Lightning the chances it needed to generate the winner.
"It's tough," Sullivan said. "You'd hoped to gain some momentum down the stretch, and you end up trying to kill penalties."
Aston-Reese received a rarely called minor for throwing his stick to Marcus Pettersson, who had broken his, and Guentzel was caught hooking Alex Killorn 36 seconds after Aston-Reese was set free.
The Penguins were a bit taken aback by the call against Aston-Reese -- "It doesn't happen very often," Sullivan said. "Does he throw it, or drop it? I'm not sure which." -- and noted the disparity in power plays. Tampa Bay had four, the Penguins one.
"I don't know if we deserved all of those (penalties)," Sidney Crosby said.
That final one of those led to Hedman's goal that broke a 2-2 tie and stripped a bit of the luster off an otherwise stellar game by Jarry, who was beaten only by a pair of deflections and the Hedman blast that he never saw.
"He was great," Crosby said. "They had momentum at some different points, and he made some big saves. He was solid all the way through."
So was Tanev, who punctuated an excellent game with one of the most spectacular goals of the season. He curled out of the right-wing corner and cut under Steven Stamkos in the right circle before throwing a backhander past Hedman's left leg and under the crossbar from along the goal line at 5:06 of the second period.
"I was fortunate enough to make a play and get it over the goaltender," Tanev said.
That goal tied the game. The one Guentzel scored off a Crosby feed with 58.8 seconds to go in the second period gave them a 2-1 lead.
The Penguins were unable to make that advantage stand up, although a case could be made that they deserved at least a point for all they invested in this game. Not that that was much consolation.
"What you deserve and what happens is kind of irrelevant," Jack Johnson said. "It's all about results."
The Penguins haven't gotten a satisfactory one since beating Dallas last Friday. It remains to be seen if they will continue to play with the discipline and commitment and efficiency they have shown most nights, although Sullivan believes his players won't abandon the style that has served them reasonably well through the early weeks of this season simply because they aren't receiving the positive reinforcement that comes with points in the standings.
"I don't think so," he said. "These guys know how they're playing. We're generating quality scoring chances. I just think we have to stay with it. ... We feel as though this team is tracking the right way."
• Before the game, Sullivan suggested that one or more of the Penguins' half-dozen injured players could return for their game Saturday in Dallas. He declined to identify them -- "There's a handful of them that are close," Sullivan said -- but Bryan Rust, whose left hand was injured when he blocked a shot in the final preseason game, appears to be a leading candidate. He is on the trip, as is injured center Nick Bjugstad. When the Penguins activate one or more forwards, they will have to assign a corresponding number of players to their farm team in Wilkes-Barre because they brought up Adam Johnson, Joseph Blandisi and Lafferty on emergency recall when they did not have 12 healthy forwards available.
• Sullivan said Adam Johnson did not play against Tampa Bay because of an unspecified upper-body injury, He was replaced by defenseman Juuso Riikola, who played nine minutes and eight seconds and was credited with two hits.
• Crosby struggled on faceoffs during the Penguins' 4-2 loss at Florida Tuesday night, but went 14-6 on draws against the Lightning.
• McDonagh was credited with nine of the Lightning's 31 hits. Jack Johnson had six of the Penguins' 25.
• The Penguins did a good job of neutralizing Tampa Bay's lethal power play for most of the game. At least until Hedman scored the game-winner while Guentzel was in the box. "I thought, for the most part, the penalty-kill was terrific for most of the night," Sullivan said. "We might have given up one chance, and it was in the net."
• Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper, on whether he felt Letang's near-goal at the end of the game was going to count: "It's hard to tell. They couldn't tell with HD cameras, so I definitely couldn't tell from the bench."
• The Penguins have allowed the first goal in each of their past six games.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Evgeni Malkin (unspecified, lower-body) is on Long-Term Injured Reserve
• Brian Dumoulin (undisclosed)
• Nick Bjugstad (unspecified, lower-body) is on Injured Reserve
• Alex Galchenyuk (unspecified, lower-body) is on IR
• Bryan Rust (hand) is on LTIR
• Adam Johnson (unspecified, upper-body)
• Zach Trotman (sports hernia surgery) is on LTIR
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Dominik Simon
Dominik Kahun -- Jared McCann -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
Juuso Riikola -- Joseph Blandisi -- Sam Lafferty
Kris Letang -- John Marino
Marcus Pettersson -- Justin Schultz
Jack Johnson -- Erik Gudbranson
And for Jon Cooper's Lightning:
Steven Stamkos -- Tyler Johnson -- Mathieu Joseph
Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Yanni Gourde
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Nikita Kucherov
Patrick Maroon -- Cedric Paquette -- Luke Witkowski
Victor Hedman -- Erik Cernak
Ryan McDonagh -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Brayden Coburn -- Mikhail Sergachev
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will have a day off in Dallas Thursday before practicing at the American Airlines Center Friday and facing the Stars there Saturday at 8:08 p.m.
THE COVERAGE
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