Six different scorers contributed to Tampa’s opening night victory at Amalie Arena Thursday night. For the seventh time on their home ice, the Lightning was able to overcome an early deficit to beat the Red Wings 6-4. Four unanswered goals came in the third period for Tampa that sent the Red Wings into a dead spin.
Detroit began their season against the same team that defeated them at the tail end of the 2015-16 season. Though things look much different with the loss of Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit opened room for Frans Nielsen and Tomas Vanek to join the squad and bring goals to the team. It also left the door open for Detroit’s coaching staff to take a different approach to the way they play the game and hope that they can start the season with a victory on the road.
The Red Wings fought early on making their stance known before their first rush on goaltender Ben Bishop. Further opportunities had Tampa scrambling on defense keeping the scoring chances difficult for Detroit. They gained their first power play of the season on a holding penalty to the Lightning. The Detroit veterans opened the power play unit with Nielsen joining the offensive line.
There were plenty of shots near the Lightning net with captain Henrik Zetterberg getting a piece. Though he wasn’t able to score on the six foot seven net minder, Vanek was. He went on the stick side of Bishop where he got hold of the loose puck scoring his first of the season. Nielsen picked up an assist on the play making it clear that the new Detroit stars were doing their jobs.
Tampa earned a chance to level the playing field with a penalty just seconds after the Vanek goal. They made it 5 on 3 for 13 seconds that was plenty of time for Tampa to make something happen in the Detroit zone. Detroit managed to get out of trouble early with Petr Mrazek doing work in the net. He made big saves on Lightning captain Steven Stamkos with two shots coming at point blank range. He continued with the fast glove that saved the Lightning from scoring thereby ending the man advantage.
All the hard work paid off for a second time as a bouncing puck got off the sticks of Tampa and into the possession of Gustav Nyquist. The Swedish veteran found Vanek behind him setting him up for an easy goal on Bishop. It was his 27th career goal against the Lightning which gave the Red Wings a heavy advantage just halfway through the period.
Tampa began to show signs of concern as they struggled to bring the same degree of strength that Detroit brought on the ice. Tampa began to see more chances at Mrazek but couldn’t yet break one through him battling against a strong Red Wings defense. They shot four times while holding Detroit from any during the second half of the period. They were outshot 9-5 by Tampa but the leverage was well in favor of Detroit who hoped to keep things in check going forward.
The Red Wings were finding chances on the net with Brendan Smith and Dylan Larkin getting their opportunities on net. They regained the lead on shots to the net after six minutes where the scoring chances on Bishop were putting them close to widening the margin further. Tampa took their second shot at the power play where they ended the shutout for Detroit scoring with 47 seconds left on the man advantage. The Lightning set up Jonathan Drouin with a shot from the faceoff to Mrazek’s left cutting the margin in half.
Detroit returned their two-goal lead with a great steal on the stick of Larkin, the sophomore stole the puck away in the neutral zone before a shot from Mike Green was taken. To Bishop’s left stood Nielsen who got on the rebound to score his first as a Red Wing. The Lightning began showing signs of aggression as they wanted to keep Detroit within reach. After five minutes the Lighting got a second in on Mrazek with Cedric Paquette scoring big with his first of the season on a tight-angled shot that went through the legs of the Red Wings goalie. It was clearly the momentum that they were looking for and matched Detroit at 12 shots each to end the second period.
The third got underway with Tampa on the remainder of their power using the time to their advantage. Though they didn’t get much on them, it allowed the Lightning to gain some serious confidence with the score close. A huge opportunity came to them in the neutral zone where Detroit loss control of the puck watching Brian Boyle take off with the puck. He came in on a 2 on 1 with Paquette where his shot rang off the inside of the net leveling the game.
Patience was working for the Lightning who waited for the right time to strike and take the lead. It was a two-man play between Stamkos and Tyler Johnson where the young forward scored on the power play with the puck going through the pads of Mrazek to lead 4-3. Detroit was underperforming that carried along troubles of getting the best of Bishop like they did earlier.
Time became the Red Wing’s second enemy which frustrated them against a team that was once again controlling the important part of the game. Detroit had a power play in the late stages of the period but getting through Tampa proved too difficult. Their PK unit took care of business before earning another power play. They pushed forward with such ferocity that gave Tampa their fourth unanswered with Alex Killorn getting in on the fun.
The Red Wings were in real trouble becoming so desperate that Mrazek was pulled out to bring on a sixth attacker. While it didn’t work, they got very lucky on a shot that came from center ice and took quite a bounce to get into the net due to a second bounce off the stick of Bishop. Danny DeKeyser received credit for the goal putting Detroit within a goal. The Red Wings went for the empty net again and paid the price with Tampa pressing in the zone for Valtteri Filppula to score easily.
It was the goal that put the game to bed with the horn sounding another victory over Detroit and a milestone for Bishop. With 28 saves on the night, the first stringer became the all-time leader in saves for the Lightning in franchise history. He would no doubt enjoy that as well as picking up where he left off by troubling Detroit.
They would continue their four-game home stand while the Red Wings tried to turn things around facing the Florida Panthers Saturday.
Photo by: Mike Carlson/Getty Images
No comments:
Post a Comment