Monday, 4 a.m.
It was, quite possibly, the ugliest five minutes in the history of ice.
It started with a tie. It ended up in a blowout. And before you know it, there were tiny bits of the Tampa Bay Lightning all over the arena.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, a team struggling to stay in the playoff race, embarrassed the visiting Lightning Sunday night. It should be noted that the Lightning did their part to do the same. It was 7-e, and at times, it seemed the Bolts were lost on defense.
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It was the 11th time this season the Bolts have given up five or more goals. Backup goaltender Brian Elliott was coming off a shutout, but he has given up at least four in seven of his 15 starts.
"We just made some plays we haven’t been making,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "We turned pucks over. It seemed like the harder we tried the worse it got. Everyone was trying to make up for mistakes. If we had just taken a breath, we would have been fine."
The Bolts got goals from Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov. The Kucherov goal gave him 700 points for his career. Brayden Point scored a meaningless goal in the third period.
The Bolts fell to 15-14-1 on the road this season.
"We've got to be better on the road," Cooper said.
The Bolts are home at Amalie Arena on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. game against Florida.