Lightning hold off Penguins, tie East finals

Lightning hold off Penguins, tie East finals

Ninety minutes before the opening face-off Friday night, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told his Lightning players how they could get back on track in the Eastern Conference finals.

Ryan Callahan provided an early spark, Andrei Vasilevskiy made two big saves in the closing minutes to avoid a total third-period collapse, and the Lightning held on for a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins to tie the best-of-seven series 2-2.

Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin scored to give Pittsburgh hope, and Chris Kunitz’s power-play goal trimmed the deficit to one with 6:52 remaining.

The 21-year-old goaltender, filling in for injured Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop, finished with 35 saves in his fourth career playoff start.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said his team’s slow start was not as “horrible as it was made out to be,” noting Tampa Bay entered the night as the more desperate team after losing two straight.