Penguins Rally, Jar(ry) Bolts, 4-2

Thunderstruck, awestruck, dumbstruck and dumbfounded.

Any or all of those adjectives would describe my feelings after witnessing the Penguins’ stunning 4-2 victory over the Lightning last night at Amalie Arena in come-from-behind fashion.

They’re likely to describe how Jon Cooper’s bunch are feeling, too. They probably still don’t know what hit ‘em.

It’s been a long time, and maybe never, since I’ve seen a turnaround game to match this one. At least one that flipped on its end in favor of our Pens.

For the first 20 minutes and change the Lightning blitzed the black-and-gold with an incessant attack. In fact blitzkrieg, which translates to “lightning war,” is an apt description of the carnage wrought by our hosts. The Lightning skated over, around and through us in wave after blue-and-black (or black-and-blue) wave.

Overwhelmed, our slow-starting Pens couldn’t even muster a Katy-bar-the-door defense.

The crushing attack landed squarely in goalie Tristan Jarry’s grille. How he was able to stand his ground and mitigate the damage, I’ll never know. Facing down a fusillade of quality shots, he somehow limited the Bolts to a pair of first-period goals.

Commenting on Jarry’s super-human efforts, TV color man Mike Rupp duly noted, “He’s bought them (us) time.”

Truer words were never spoken.

When the second period opened like the first? I started to write our obituary, not only for the game but our season as well.

Then the momentum began to shift. Slowly, imperceptibly at first. It started with a decent shift by our fourth line around the three-minute mark. Minutes later the Sidney Crosby line, with Kris Letang in tow, kept the Bolts bottled up.

Then it happened.

Jake Guentzel stole the puck from Nikita Kucherov at our blue line and sprang Crosby on a breakaway. Sid cut inside the left circle and torched Andrei Vasilevskiy with a bullet of a wrister to the blocker side.

I can’t begin to describe the impact. I mean, we were totally dominated by the Lightning for the better part of 30 minutes. To be down by only a goal?

A sea change.

Suddenly our boys were smashing through the Bolts’ defense, causing Vasilveskiy to scramble like a cat on a hot tin roof. Then lightning struck again with 36 seconds left in the period. Only this time of the black-and-gold variety.

From his right defense position, Letang sent a perfect bounce pass off the side boards to Evgeni Malkin. Geno skated to the right circle, then proceeded to play footsie with all-star defender Victor Hedman until a trailing Drew O’Connor rushed in to join the play. The crafty center froze his adversary with a stop-start move before threading an exquisite pass between Hedman’s legs. The puck and O’Connor arrived simultaneously at the doorstep and the rangy winger slammed it home.

My joy morphed into full-on elation at 2:49 of the final period when our Pens grabbed a 3-2 lead on a short-side snipe by Jeff Carter following a give-and-go with Matt Nieto.

Jarred from their torpor, the Lightning weren’t going down without a fight. They proceeded to pour it on, piling up a 17-5 edge in third-period shots on goal that matched their first-period onslaught. But Jarry not only slammed the door, he added to their collective misery with 68 seconds remaining when he split the uprights for an empty-net goal! Putting the finishing touches on a dramatic comeback win for our Pens.

Puckpourri

The Lightning dominated the shot stats. According to Natural Stat Trick, they rang up a considerable edge in shot attempts (79-61), shots on goal (41-29), scoring chances (40-27) and high-danger chances (19-13).

All for naught.

What can you say about Jarry’s valiant effort between the pipes? He was simply superb, turning aside 39 shots, including a plethora of Grade-A chances. His teammates should kick back their pay for the first period because he kept us alive singlehanded. In my book, he earned the first, second and third stars.

Unlike last season’s team, which had a weak underbelly, this bunch has some tensile strength. Credit Kyle Dubas for reinforcing our character with the likes of Lars Eller and Noel Acciari, veterans who don’t easily rattle. A night-and-day difference from, say, Kasperi Kapanen.

Really like the look of O’Connor in the top six. He’s driving play with his speed and hustle while creating chances for his linemates. A larger, better, younger version of Dominik Simon. Just wish he could finish.

The fourth line is beginning to emerge as an effective unit. In addition to their strong defensive play, the trio’s showing signs of life offensively. To his credit, Carter is not only adapting to his new, reduced role, he’s thriving.

On the flip side, the third line has faded of late. Not to demean him, but I’ve seen enough of Jansen Harkins to know his skill set doesn’t translate to the NHL. Mike Sullivan needs to end the experiment pronto and reinstate Vinnie Hinostroza.

Speaking of experiments, Sullivan shuffled his defensive pairs, teaming rookie John Ludvig with Letang and pairing turnover-prone Ryan Graves with steady-as-she-goes Ryan Shea. Sully actually seems to like and appreciate the hard edge Ludvig brings to the table.

Color me happy!

A special shout-out to Marcus Pettersson. Not only has he shone (a team-best plus-13) as Erik Karlsson’s partner, no easy feat, he consistently stands up for his team and teammates. Last night he sparred with Tanner Jeannot, a pretty tough customer, in front of Jarry and didn’t back up an inch.

Although far from physically imposing, the rangy defenseman most definitely doesn’t pick his spots. He’s got a ton of character and guts.

In many ways, a reflection of our team.

On Deck

The Pens (11-10-1) square off with John Tortorella’s improving Flyers (11-10-2) in a home-and-home set, starting Saturday night in the ‘Burgh and wrapping up on Monday night in Philly.

We’re currently four points out of a wild-card spot.

Shhhh, don’t tell anyone. But we’re 8-4-1 since our dismal 3-6 start.