Pittsburgh kept pushing in the second, and Evgeni Malkin’s spinning deflection made it a 2-0 game — much to the delight of his parents, in the building again.

The Lightning fought back after that. They pulled back within one on a signature power-play blast from Steven Stamkos and were gunning for the equalizer when Drew O’Connor deflected a point shot that dribbled through Vasilevskiy’s legs.

Malkin scored his second about two minutes later and the Penguins led 4-1.

But it quickly went kablooey in the final frame. On the first shift, Nedeljkovic let in a stoppable shot taken by Nick Paul. Then after a scary injury to referee Steve Kozari stopped play and stemmed momentum, Anthony Duclair made it 4-3.

Stamkos scored his second power play goal to tie it up with 9:15 remaining. Marcus Pettersson, the Penguins’ best defender, was sitting in the penalty box when the longtime Lightning forward roofed another one-timer on Nedeljkovic.

After Bunting got the go-ahead goal, the Penguins survived a late power-play to get the win. Nedeljkovic scrambled to make multiple saves without a stick.

ICE CHIPS

— Kozari, the referee, was taken off on a stretcher after he collided with Tampa Bay defenseman Haydn Fleury in the third period. He lay on the ice motionless after the hit and Pittsburgh’s medical team rushed out to center ice to treat him. Play resumed with just one referee, Tom Chmielewski, and the two linesmen.

— Crosby’s first-period goal clinched the captain his third ever campaign with 40 or more goals. The last time Crosby reached the 40-goal mark was 2016-17.

— Malkin has six goals in six games since his parents arrived in town last month. That includes a pair of multi-goal games in front of them at PPG Paints Arena.

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