Just like that, the Penguins answered right back.
After a game two thrashing of Pittsburgh, the Tampa Bay Lightning took to the ice in front of a raucous crowd at the St. Pete Times Forum on Monday night, hoping to grab the lead in the series and hold on to the home ice they had earned. Instead, the Lightning fell behind early, battled back, only to see the Penguins answer back and skate away with a 3-2 victory.
In a similar scene to game two, one team jumped out to a quick lead, but this time, it was the Penguins. Max Talbot opened up the scoring with his first goal of the postseason just six minutes into the game on a shot that Dwayne Roloson said changed directions on him, deflecting off a stick. The Penguins would add to their lead less then a minute later when Victor Hedman missed a check near the bench and allowed Mike Rupp to skate right by him. Rupp found Arron Asham in the slot, who beat Roloson to extend the lead to 2-0. For the suddenly hot Asham, it was his second goal of the postseason.
The Lightning answered back, though, right before the end of the first period though when - who else? - Martin St. Louis got the Lightning on the board on the power play. For St. Louis it was his second goal of the postseason, and it was an important one. It stopped the bleeding and gave the Lightning, and the building, life going into the second period.
