"Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson now has a prime opportunity to display one of his most impressive qualities.

A short memory.

The Pittsburgh Penguins peppered Roloson with two first-period goals — 45 seconds apart. Then they broke a third-period tie, shattering the Lightning's momentum, when Tyler Kennedy shoveled in a rebound past Roloson.

It added up to a 3-2 victory against the Lightning in Monday night's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference playoff series at the St. Pete Times Forum.

The ebbs and flows — and ultimately, the frustration — of the narrow defeat might linger for a less experienced goaltender. Not for Roloson, 41, who was acquired from the New York Islanders on New Year's Day.

Roloson, two years older than his coach, Guy Boucher, has pretty much seen it all. And he knows how to properly react.

For Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, that characteristic made Roloson into an attractive commodity.

"One of the big things that make goaltenders good is the ability to bounce back," Yzerman said before the game. "The puck goes in the net and you shrug it off, no matter how it gets in there. You lose a game, you come back strong and you believe I'm the best goalie in the world."

With the Lightning hanging on by their fingernails, trailing 2-1, Roloson kept them alive by using the toe of his outstretched left skate to stop James Neal's point-blank deep in the second period. Again trailing by one goal in the third, it was Roloson's desperation lunging save, off his right pad, that stopped a sharply angled punch from Chris Conner.

Roloson, though, wasn't interested in any moral-victory statistics.

"For me, it's not about the stats," Roloson said before the game. "It's about the games we win. You don't focus on anything else except winning a hockey game. Whether it's 15-14 or 1-0, it doesn't matter.

"You just focus on doing your job. Whether you're facing one shot or 100 shots, you've still got to do your job. Nothing else matters.""