Pittsburgh Penguins at Tampa Bay Lightning
· National Hockey League
Cirelli gets 2nd career hat trick and Lightning move into 1st in Atlantic after beating Penguins 6-3
Zemgus Girgensons scored his 100th career goal and Brayden Point scored his second in 14 games for Tampa Bay, which improved to 7-1-2 in the past 10 games. Jake Guentzel and Gage Goncalves both had two assists while Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves.
Egor Chinakov scored twice and Rickard Rackell also scored for Pittsburgh. Sam Girard and Kris Letang both had two assists and Stuart Skinner finished with 27 saves.
The Penguins remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of the New York Islanders.
Cirelli scored Tampa Bay's first two goals and he added an empty-netter for his first hat trick since Jan. 17, 2020.
Cirelli and Rakell traded goals 1:55 apart in the opening seven minutes of the game before Chinakov gave the Penguins their first lead of the game with a backhander from the right circle at 16:10.
Cirelli notched his second of the game 11 seconds into the second, deflecting a puck away from Bryan Rust and racing up ice for a breakaway, lifting a backhand shot over Skinner for a shorthanded marker.
Point put the Lightning back in front at 14:08 on a rebound. Girgensons took a pass from Gourde behind the net, pulled the puck to his forehand as he reached the crease and tucked a backhander into the open part of the net with 54.7 seconds left in the second.
Kucherov made it 5-2 at 13:50 of the third.
Tampa Bay: Host the Boston Bruins on Saturday
Regular Season SeriesTB wins series 2-1
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 1st Period 5:06 | Anthony Cirelli Goal (21) Snap Shot, assists: Gage Goncalves (19) |
 |
Goal | 1st Period 7:01 | Rickard Rakell Goal (21) Snap Shot, assists: Samuel Girard (13), Kris Letang (29) |
|
Goal | 1st Period 16:10 | Egor Chinakhov Goal (19) Backhand, assists: Bryan Rust (35), Samuel Girard (14) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 0:11 | Anthony Cirelli Goal (22) Backhand, assists: none |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 14:08 | Brayden Point Goal (18) Wrist Shot, assists: Jake Guentzel (46), Nikita Kucherov (82) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 19:05 | Zemgus Girgensons Goal (9) Backhand, assists: Yanni Gourde (19), Ryan McDonagh (11) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 13:50 | Nikita Kucherov Goal (41) Wrist Shot, assists: Charle-Edouard D'Astous (23), Jake Guentzel (47) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 15:33 | Anthony Cirelli Goal (23) Wrist Shot, assists: Gage Goncalves (20), Nikita Kucherov (83) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 19:58 | Egor Chinakhov Goal (20) Snap Shot, assists: Kris Letang (30), Anthony Mantha (29) |
Statistics
 PIT |
 TB |
|
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Blocked Shots | 10 |
| 21 | Hits | 18 |
| 4 | Takeaways | 4 |
| 24 | Shots | 33 |
| 1 | Power Play Goals | 0 |
| 4 | Power Play Opportunities | 3 |
| 25.0 | Power Play Percentage | 0.0 |
| 0 | Short Handed Goals | 1 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 39 | Faceoffs Won | 25 |
| 60.9 | Faceoff Win Percent | 39.1 |
| 15 | Giveaways | 17 |
| 4 | Total Penalties | 5 |
| 8 | Penalty Minutes | 10 |
Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Erik Cernak, D | Out | Oct 31 |
| Zemgus Girgensons, C | Out | Oct 31 |
| Yanni Gourde, C | Injured Reserve | Sep 28 |
Pittsburgh Penguins Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Justin Brazeau, RW | Out | Oct 28 |
| Elmer Soderblom, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 28 |
| Bryan Rust, RW | Injured Reserve | Oct 22 |
| Trevor van Riemsdyk, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 12 |
| Ryan Graves, D | Injured Reserve | Sep 27 |
Game Information
Benchmark International Arena
Location: Tampa, FL
Attendance: 19,092 | Capacity:
Location: Tampa, FL
Attendance: 19,092 | Capacity:
2026-27 Metropolitan Division Standings
| TEAM | W | L | PTS | OTL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Carolina |
2 | 2 | 24 | 11 |
 New Jersey |
0 | 5 | 18 | 9 |
 Washington |
0 | 4 | 16 | 8 |
 NY Islanders |
2 | 5 | 16 | 7 |
 NY Rangers |
1 | 6 | 15 | 7 |
 Pittsburgh |
2 | 7 | 12 | 5 |
 Columbus |
0 | 7 | 10 | 5 |
 Philadelphia |
4 | 8 | 10 | 3 |
