Jokinen's 2 Goals Power Pens Past Lightning, 6-3
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jussi Jokinen scored two goals and added an assist, Pascal Dupuis had a goal and two assists, and the Eastern-Conference leading Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 Thursday night.
Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin and Tanner Glass had the other Pittsburgh goals. Dupuis has three goals and eight points during a four-game points streak.
Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang was back in the lineup and had an assist after missing the previous six games with a lower body injury. The Penguins are still without center Sidney Crosby (broken jaw), left wing James Neal (concussion) and defenseman Paul Martin (hand).
Pittsburgh has a six-game winning streak against the Lightning.
Teddy Purcell had two goals for the Lightning. Brett Connolly had the other Tampa Bay goal.
Early third-period goals by Malkin and Jokinen gave the Penguins a 5-2 lead. Glass got his first goal in 56 games during a late third-period power play.
Kunitz put Pittsburgh up 3-1 with a redirection on the power play early in the second period. But Connolly stopped a personal 54-game goal drought dating back to Nov. 17, 2011 against Pittsburgh, when he got Tampa Bay within 3-2 with a man-advantage goal.
The Penguins had taken a 1-0 lead 4:07 into the game when Jokinen scored from near the post on a rebound. Dupuis made it 2-0 during a power play on another rebound goal.
After Malkin was called for tripping while battling for position in front of the Tampa Bay net, Purcell cut the Lightning deficit to 2-1 from the right circle. He connected off a pass from Steven Stamkos on the ensuing power play.
Purcell also scored in the final minute of the game.
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