Lightning hand Penguins another shootout loss as Pittsburgh losing streak extends to 3 games

King Jemison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan 13, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — A quiet, scoreless game through two periods delivered third-period fireworks — and another Penguins shootout loss.

The Penguins fell, 2-1, to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, as Nikita Kucherov punched through a decisive goal in the shootout. Pittsburgh has now lost three straight games.

The Penguins fell to 1-6 in shootouts. Arturs Silovs is responsible for five of those losses (and the lone win) after allowing goals on two of Tampa’s three attempts..

The Lightning have now won 11 straight games

A jumbled mess of a game was nearly decided on a jumbled mess of a goal, as Silovs failed to fully freeze the puck after stopping a shot by Yanni Gourde with just under six minutes to go. J.J. Moser then managed to poke it past the Penguins netminder for the first goal of the game.

But a Pittsburgh team that was about two minutes from going seven consecutive periods without scoring finally found the back of the net. Evgeni Malkin fired a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy after Kris Letang won a puck battle along the boards.

The first 43 minutes were pretty sleepy. A light crowd seemed to be still recovering from Steelers whiplash. Neither team could sustain momentum for long stretches. The scoreboard was knotted at 0 through two periods.

Connor Clifton woke the building up real quick with a thunderous hit on Brandon Hagel about three minutes into the third period. After slamming Hagel into the boards, Clifton fought Anthony Cirelli, taking the forward to the ground.

The Penguins defenseman was called for boarding, so Tampa got a three-minute power play after two minutes of 4-on-4. Pittsburgh’s penalty kill stymied them as they had in two second-period opportunities for a dangerous Lightning power play.

The Penguins offense didn’t look much better.

After scoring just one goal in two games over the weekend, Pittsburgh was held scoreless for nearly 58 minutes Tuesday before Malkin broke through.

He’d had a couple of good looks in rapid succession on a first-period power play, but Vasilevskiy stopped both and froze the puck. The Lightning goalie later turned away Bryan Rust in tight on a second-period power play after Rickard Rakell made a nifty move to set him up.

The Penguins created some breakout chances in the second period but seemed too determined to make the extra pass rather than firing away.

Silovs kept the Lightning off the board for 54 minutes, as well, gloving Nick Paul’s attempt moments after poking the puck away from Jake Guentzel in one particularly good sequence early in the game. He stopped Oliver Bjorkstrand on a heavy one-timer from just in front of the net in the second period.

Playing without Erik Karlsson for the first time this season — and his two-and-a-half-year Penguins tenure — Pittsburgh’s first power play was ugly. They looked better in their second and third opportunities but still came up empty.

It was over when …

Kucherov scored in Tampa’s third shootout attempt, after Egor Chinakhov had fired a rocket past Vasilevskiy to briefly extend the game.

Stat of the game

— 2: The Penguins’ total goals in the last three games — after they’d averaged 4.83 per game in their six previous contests.

Around the boards

— Before Tuesday, Karlsson had yet to miss a game since being traded to Pittsburgh in August 2023. He leads the team in ice time and assists this season but is out with a lower-body injury. He’ll be reevaluated in two weeks.

— Rust returned after missing two games with a lower-body injury.

— The Penguins recalled forward Tristan Broz and defenseman Ryan Graves from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Neither player was in the lineup Tuesday.

— Speaking of the lineup: there were significant changes with Rust’s return and Karlsson’s exit. The traditional top line of Rakell-Crosby-Rust was back together. The fourth line of Dewar-Lizotte-Acciari remained intact. But Tommy Novak centered a new-look second line with Chinakhov and Malkin on the wing, while Ben Kindel played between Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau on the third line.

— Brett Kulak and Letang became the top defensive pair. Jack St. Ivany stepped into Karlsson’s spot alongside Parker Wotherspoon. Ryan Shea and Clifton were the third pair.

— Caleb Jones was reassigned to the Baby Penguins on a conditioning loan Monday, signaling that the defenseman who’s been out since Oct. 23 could return soon. He played seven of the Penguins’ first eight games.

Up next

The Penguins practice on Wednesday before playing the second leg of a three-game homestand Thursday against Philadelphia at 7 p.m. in what promises to be a chippy contest.