"It was not quite five minutes, but it carried the potential to be devastating for the Penguins.

Imagine them flying home to Pittsburgh from a sunny Florida day, having to brace against the cold and scrape ice from their vehicles while strapped with the effects of a fall-from-ahead defeat and visions of a recent losing streak threatening to repeat itself.

"We just relaxed for five minutes," center Evgeni Malkin said of a three-goal burst by the Tampa Bay Lightning early in the third period that tied their matinee Sunday at the Tampa Bay Times Forum."