TAMPA, Fla. — The Pittsburgh Penguins (14-7-5) raced to a 3-0 lead in the second period, but rarely seemed to be the better team. For the third time this season, the Penguins squandered a 3-0 lead, but blowing this lead seemed to be preordained even before it existed.

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s (16-9-2) depleted lineup, without Brayden Point (IR), Victor Hedman (IR), and starting goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (undisclosed), still generated speed and high-quality offensive chances throughout the contest, surging to tie the game on Brandon Hagel’s (17) unabated breakaway goal at 11:44 of the third.

Yet Evgeni Malkin (8) converted a late turnover by Tampa Bay for a 4-3 lead in the final three minutes.

Oh, but the drama wasn’t over. Nikita Kucherov whistled a wrister past Jarry at 19:05 of the third period. However, the NHL situation room in Toronto spotted a potential hand-pass.

After a LONG review, the handpass was upheld, and the Penguins held on for a 4-3 win at International Benchmark Arena.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper wasn’t very happy with the NHL situation room. Though the puck clearly hit Brandon Hagel’s hand, Cooper argued it was not a hand pass.

“Okay, did he mean to do it, or was it deflected? Was there an advantage gained or not? And you could really debate whether an advantage was gained. Did Brandon Hagel direct that puck, knowing exactly where it was going? No,” said Cooper. “Would you sit here today and say Brandon Hagel was maybe protecting his face from a puck hitting it, or protecting some part of his body? If I threw this microphone at you right now, would you put your hand up to stop it? Hell yeah, you would all right.

“So, there’s a spirit of the rule. Was that the spirit of the rule for him, take it in the face, if that okay, let’s let me do that. And I think that’s where we get that wrong, and that’s not what happened … A lot of play, a lot of the game developed after that, and the puck went in the net. So is that a really frustrating one for me? It is.”

With a 3-1 lead beginning the third period, the Penguins could not stay out of the penalty box, as Kris Letang and Malkin took minor penalties within the first 3:18 of the third period.

The dramatic game only became more heated as Hagel (16) sniped a power play goal just 1:17 into the third period that fooled Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry.

Jarry was otherwise spectacular, and the reason the Penguins were not blown out. Multiple teammates, including Karlsson and Ville Koivunen, credited Jarry with saving the game.

“Well, not our best. I think Jarry saved that win for us, so we just need to be better at defense and work harder,” Koivunen said.

In total, the Penguins took six minor penalties, though the Lightning almost kept pace, giving back four.

In the first period, the Penguins contingent let out a yell as Koivunen finally scored his first NHL goal.

After 23 games, 29 shots, some glorious opportunities, and even one goal called back, he scored his first NHL goal. At 6:12 of the first period, Koivunen (1) stepped forward into the left circle and finished a Penguins power play with a snipe to the top corner past Tampa Bay goalie Jonas Johansson.

Finally.

“Happy and relief, I’d say,” said Koivunen.

The first period was full of odd-man rushes, penalties, and Jarry saves. Tampa Bay outshot the Penguins 15-6 in the first period, though the Penguins also had a few two-on-one rushes, too.

Tampa Bay had more odd-man breaks and three power plays, including Sidney Crosby’s cross-checking call in the final minute of the period, which Crosby hotly disputed.

The Penguins killed all three minor penalties into the second period, with a good bit of help from Jarry, despite Nikita Kucherov’s and Jake Guentzel’s playmaking wizardry.

After Jarry’s showstopping (or puck-stopping) effort in the first period, Malkin flashed a little vintage form in the second period. Malkin made a stand at the defensive blue line, leading to a full zone breakaway.

Malkin (7) deked to the backhand and threw in a hard headfake for good measure, which opened Johansson’s five-hole for an easy backhand goal at 7:53 of the second.

Then the Penguins’ power play flexed its league-leading muscles for a 3-0 lead when Ben Kindel (7) neatly deflected Erik Karlsson’s point shot over Johansson at 9:49. Going back to their 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Monday, the Penguins’ power play had converted five of its last six chances.

After being well outshot in the first period 15-8 (the original tally was 15-6), the Penguins reversed course and outshot Tampa Bay 11-9, but Tampa Bay got a late tally in the second period to make the third period far more competitive.

Tampa Bay won a trio of individual battles as Jake Guentzel’s hard stop along the right wall shed tight coverage by Penguins’ defenseman Ryan Shea. Guentzel’s back pass to D-man Darren Raddysh furthered the play as Raddysh sidestepped Crosby, who had sprawled to the ice. Then Raddysh snapped a pass to former Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov for an easy tap-in goal at 18:46.

The goal pulled Tampa Bay to within 3-1 in the highly competitive game and set up the tense third period.

Penguins fourth-line winger Boko Imama didn’t shy away from his strengths, either. Just over two minutes into the game, he and 6-foot-9, 242-pound Curtis Douglas squared off for a heavyweight fight at center ice.

Jarry stopped 37 of 40 for the wild victory. Johansson stopped 26 of 30.

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