It’s not often that the goaltender is the best player on a team that scores six goals in a victory, but without the play of Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Tampa Bay Lightning don’t emerge with their 6-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings. Overall, Vasy stopped 34-of-37 shots in the game, but it was the 16-of-17 saves that he made in the second period that kept the Lightning in front of a determined Detroit squad.
Did the Lightning “deserve” to win the game today? Probably not, but cue up William Munny. There have been more than a fair share of games where the Lightning have been on the other side of this conversation, and at this point in the season, they’ll take the two points no matter how they get them.
Early on it looked like the Bolts would finally walk away with a win as Brandon Hagel and Erik Cernak (!) scored in the first three minutes and, chasing Alex Lyon from the crease after just three shots. Vlad Tarasenko cleaved the lead in half with his 300th career goal.
Cam Talbot was better at stopping the puck than Lyon, but Brayden Point did Brayden Point things and Nick Paul got the better of him on a breakaway to push the Lightning lead to 4-1. Patrick Kane kept the Wings in the game with a power-play goal later in the period, which would kick off an extended run of play in the Lightning zone that carried through most of the second period.
With Nikita Kucherov in the box in the second period, Vasilevskiy was at his best. Detroit dominated the two-minute advantage, generating five scoring chances and racking up seven shots. The Lightning netminder stood tall and kept them at bay. The Lightning failed to build off of the kill, and Alex DeBrincat cut the lead to one when he picked off a clearing attempt a few minutes later and beat Vasilevskiy cleanly.
The Lightning survived the period with the lead, and improved their play in the third period, as they held the Red Wings to just four high-danger chances over the final four minutes. Dylan Duke, playing in front of his family (his brother Tyler will play in the same arena tonight as Michigan takes on Isaac Howard’s Michigan State), scored in his NHL debut. He won a puck battle along the boards and then potted the rebound off of a Mitchell Chaffee second chance.
Brandon Hagel picked up his fourth point of the net when he put home an empty-netter with just over three minutes to go in the game.
Likes/Dislikes
Like –Andrei Vasilevskiy. He made 34 saves with the bulk of them coming at a critical junction. Detroit generated 20 high-danger chances and posted a 4.58 expected goals. When you talk about a goaltender stealing a game, it’s usually a 2-1 or 1-0 final. A strong case could be made for Vasilevskiy stealing two points tonight.
Dislike – Those 20 high-danger chances the Lightning allowed. Yes, Detroit has a lot of scoring talent, but the Lightning spent most of the game gifting them prime chances with failed clears and turnovers.
Like – Fourth-line scoring. Dylan Duke did Dylan Duke things and could be a nice spark-plug on a line with Mitchell Chaffee and Luke Glendening. He has a two-game audition before the break, but if he has another strong game, he could unseat a veteran from the starting line-up (looking at you, Cameron).
Dislike – The third line of Mikey Eyssimont, Nick Paul, and Zemgus Girgensons. They didn’t allow a goal, but struggled to stay on the right side of the ice as they were out-chanced 6-1 while allowing 4 high-danger chances. Paul did have a huge goal in the game, but it was with the lines mixed (Brandon Hagel had the assist). With Eyssimont and Girgensons struggling to score, they can’t afford to take nights off defensively.
The Goals
Brandon Hagel (Nikita Kucherov, Erik Cernak) 1-0 Lightning
Erik Cernak (Nikita Kucherov, Ryan McDonagh) 2-0 Lightning
Vlad Tarasenko (Mortiz Seider, Alex DeBrincat) 2-1 Lightning
Brayden Point (Gage Goncalves, Brandon Hagel) 3-1 Lightning
Nick Paul (Brandon Hagel, Erik Cernak) 4-1 Lightning
Patrick Kane (Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond) Power Play, 4-2 Lightning
Alex DeBrincat (unassisted) 4-3 Lightning
Dylan Duke (Mitchell Chaffee, Nick Perbix) 5-3 Lightning
Brandon Hagel (Nikita Kucherov, Ryan McDonagh) Empty Net, 6-3 Lightning
