On a night where the Detroit Red Wings were bottled up for long stretches of the game, they found a way to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2. For the Red Wings it was a key win that keeps them in the playoff race, while the Lightning’s nine-game point streak came to an end. Anthony Cirelli and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of 31 shots. Alex Lyon was sharp for the Red Wings with 34 saves.
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Much like they did against the New York Islanders, the Lightning came out with an aggressive mindset against the Red Wings and continuously pushed their guests back into their defensive zone. Big hits from Tanner Jeannot, Anthony Cirelli, and Matt Dumba drew cheers from the crowd and a whistling one-timer from Nikita Kucherov on the power play almost drew first blood on the scoreboard.
The Lightning were on the power play twice in the period and they had a couple of looks, looks that normally end up in the back of the net, but Nick Paul wasn’t able to corral a hot pass from Kucherov and Victor Hedman’s 98 MPH blast found the pads of J.T. Compher instead of the goaltender.
Despite the lack of success with the extra skater, it was still a positive period for the Bolts who controlled the game when the number of skaters on the ice were equal. When they did slip a bit, Vasilevskiy was there to save them, most notably on a breakaway by Lucas Raymond that ended up in the big catching mitt of the Lightning netminder.
A late power play for the Red Wings allowed them to draw a little closer on the shot clock, but a stiff defense in the middle of the ice kept the slate clean for the Bolts.
The stop and start nature of hockey, a game of almost constant action separated by long intermissions, reared the ugly part of it’s nature as the Red Wings took the lead before most fans were settled back into their seats for the second period.
An easy entry into the Lightning zone after a turnover allowed Dylan Larkin to launch a shot that Vasilevskiy stopped, but Patrick Kane snaked his way to the rebound and with barely a glance back at the net, backhanded a hard shot into a narrow window to give the visitors a lead.
Patrick Kane (18) [Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat] 1-0 Detroit
Drawing one play out of the hundreds that take place on a nightly basis and calling it a “turning point” is more of a writer’s trope than an actual truth, but some plays do have a significant impact on how a team plays. Down just one goal the Lightning can pretty much stick to their game plan, but down two, they have to play with a sense of urgency that could lead to mistakes.
Shortly after Kane’s goal, David Perron had a clean look at the net, and his shot beat Vasilevskiy, but the fickle hands of fate favored the Lightning and the puck rattled off of the pipe and stayed out of the net. The dreaded two-goal deficit was averted and the Lightning could stick with their game plan.
Their script probably didn’t have two goals being waved off, much less two goals by Anthony Cirelli. The center had his first attempt at his 19th goal waved off after it was determined that he barreled into goaltender Alex Lyon before the puck crossed the line when all three ended up in the net. Shorthanded a few minutes later, Cirelli and Brandon Hagel decided that Cirelli’s backhand attempt had beat the goaltender despite the officials disagreeing. Kudos to the duo for completing the bit by going through the post-goal handshake line at the bench. Reviews could not determine if the puck crossed the line, even if in our hearts we know it did.
Cirelli is nothing if not tenacious and he was determined to actually get on the score sheet. So, still shorthanded, he let one go and beat Lyon, rattled it off of the post, and celebrated when it stayed in the net. There would be no challenge on this one.
Anthony Cirelli (19) [Brandon Hagel] Shorthanded, 1-1
From there, the game settled down a bit. The chances that were flowing quite regularly in the first period dried up as both teams were a little more dedicated to defense. Detroit handled the Lightning’s forecheck better and bottled up the middle of the ice. For the Lightning’s part, they continued to push things to the outside and didn’t allow the speedy Detroit forwards to get behind their defense.
On the rare occasion the Red Wings did break through, Vasilevskiy was there to make the stop. Michael Rasmussen found out that the Big Cat was back and healthy as he saw his attempt stoned by a flashing right pad.
The Lightning had their looks, with the best chance off of a feed from Emil Lilleberg to Nick Paul on the back door, but Paul’s composite stick spontaneously de-composited at the worst of times and he wasn’t able to get the shot off.
As time wound down to mere seconds, the iron would once again be Detroit’s enemy as a floating shot from center ice eluded Vasilevskiy, but struck the post and stayed out. The period would end tied to the relief of the crowd.
Much like they did in the second period, the Lightning would play the majority of the period chasing the lead. Instead of 30 seconds, it took Detroit three minutes, but they grabbed the lead for the second time in the game as J.T. Compher simply would not be denied along the boards. Matt Dumba tried to take him out as the Red Wings’ forward entered the zone, but Compher kept the puck and was able to get inside of the defenseman. Vasilevskiy knocked the puck off of his stick, but Robby Fabbri was their to poke home the loose puck.
Robby Fabbri (18) [J.T. Compher] 2-1 Detroit
The lead wouldn’t survive the Lightning’s third attempt with the man advantage. The first unit was controlling play, but Detroit wasn’t yielding much until a bit of a broken play left Stamkos wide open. Kucherov slid the puck to Point in the slot, but the center was well covered and unable to get a shot off. As the puck skittered by him, it went right to Stamkos and the captain of the Lightning delightfully fired it into the net.
Steven Stamkos [31] (Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov] Power Play, 2-2
With the game tied back up the Lightning had a dominating stretch of play, keeping the puck in the Detroit zone for almost four consecutive minutes. They came close, oh so close to taking the lead. With the puck sitting on the goal line and Lyon in no position to stop it from going over he had help. Jeff Petry was there to sweep it out of harm’s way just before Mitchell Chaffee ‘s diving effort pushed it over.
Face-offs in the defensive zone are fairly important late in games and the Lightning lost one as the game entered its final minutes. Moritz Seider would put one on net that Vasilevskiy stopped, but David Perron worked hard to free up his stick in front of the net and was able to slip the puck home for an emotional goal.
David Perron (15) [Moritz Seider, J.T. Compher] 3-2 Detroit
The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy shortly after the goal, but there would be no last-minute magic at Amalie on this night. Lucas Raymond sealed the win with an empty net goal (Dylan Larkin recorded an assist) and the Lightning’s point streak ended.
