PITTSBURGH — After a few anxious moments Saturday, the Penguins find themselves in a tie for the East’s final wild-card spot after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4.

The Penguins were awesome in the first period Saturday, setting the tone with their puck pressure in all three zones. Then they shelled Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, pumping three goals past him in the second to blow the game open.

But for the third time in two weeks, they coughed up a multi-goal led in the third.

Michael Bunting scored with 5:28 left to help the Penguins avoid catastrophe.

They are now 6-0-2 in their last eight games, all with Alex Nedeljkovic in net.

The Penguins couldn’t have asked for a much better start. They shot out of the tunnel with oodles of energy, something that isn’t always the case in afternoon games like this. And the PPG Paints Arena crowd was as engaged as it’s been in weeks, sensing that the home team might have started something special.

Pittsburgh spent so much time in the Tampa Bay end in that period they maybe should have filled out change-of-address forms. The first Lightning shot on goal, fired from around Monroeville, didn’t come until 12 minutes into the period. And Crosby’s 40th goal of the season gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead 4:20 into the game.

Bryan Rust made a tremendous individual effort to put it on a platter for him.

He had mixed it up with a Lightning player while trying to exit the ice at the end of his previous shift. Rust got the last laugh when he swaggered in on a 2-on-1 rush, got both defenseman Darren Raddysh and Vasilevskiy to drop then sent a perfect pass to Crosby at the back door. He tucked it in for the ice-breaker.

The Penguins easily could have tacked on a few more goals in that period, but Vasilevskiy was in top form early. The superstar goalie denied Drew O’Connor right after Crosby’s goal, preventing them from bringing the house down. He later snared Bunting’s slapper and stuffed Emil Bemstrom on a breakaway.

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