Middling Penguins try to escape rut against Lightning

The Pittsburgh Penguins have not taken advantage of a November that features nine games played on home ice out of 14 overall.

On Tuesday night, the Penguins will play the second of a five-game homestand when it hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first meeting between the Eastern Conference clubs.

Sitting in seventh place ahead of only the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Metropolitan Division, the Penguins are clamoring for victories and have only 17 points despite playing the second-most games (20) of any team in the conference.

Saturday's matchup with San Jose turned out to be a microcosm of Pittsburgh's failures this season: an early effort to build multi-goal leads but a remarkable inability to hold them.

Pittsburgh went ahead 3-0 on captain Sidney Crosby's 599th career goal, but the Sharks stormed back and forced overtime.

Evgeni Malkin finally put his team ahead in the shootout's fifth round before goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped Alex Wennberg in the bottom of the frame for a 4-3 win to move its November mark to 3-3-2.

"We've been playing pretty good as of late, maybe haven't gotten the results or bounces, tough calls here or there," said Nedeljkovic, who made 26 saves for his third win. "We stuck with it. I think that's been a big point of emphasis lately. Just staying with it."

Crosby, 37, is on the cusp of becoming the 21st player to reach 600 goals and only the second active one (Alex Ovechkin, 866).

Defenseman Kris Letang (illness) has missed the past two games and was absent from Monday's morning practice.

After an 0-3-1 winless skid that saw them lose one of their top point producers, the Lightning seem to have rediscovered better play, surprisingly, against two of the NHL's best clubs during a three-game homestand.

Following a 2-1 shootout defeat against the Philadelphia Flyers in the opener, Tampa Bay crafted two of its best performances thus far -- 4-1 over the NHL-best Winnipeg Jets and 4-0 against the hot New Jersey Devils behind Andrei Vasilevskiy's 36th career shutout.

Coach Jon Cooper had been urging his group to shoot the puck, saying it was not taking enough shooting chances and trying to find the perfect pass for easier goals.

"I think the big issue with us, especially of late, is we're overcomplicating an uncomplicated game," Cooper said during the homestand. "I think we're a bottom-five team in the league for shots on goal. It's been the extra pass, the extra play, there's something better out there. It has kind of sucked the life out of us and what does it do? It fuels the other team."

The organization returned forward Gage Goncalves to AHL affiliate Syracuse on Sunday, fueling speculation -- again -- that injured top-line center Brayden Point (lower body) is nearing a return just as the team is coming around.

The 28-year-old Point, who has eight goals and five assists in 12 games, has missed the past four games but participated Saturday morning in the team's optional skate.

Nikita Kucherov handed out two assists against New Jersey, leaving him one point shy of 900. The right wing has 331 goals and 568 assists in 741 games.

Only two players in Tampa Bay franchise history have reached that milestone -- Steven Stamkos (1,137 points) and Martin St. Louis (953).

--Field Level Media