The long break didn’t help the Detroit Red Wings change the pattern of the Lightning Tuesday. Tampa took a run on scoring four unanswered before Detroit’s response ended the 4-1 match at Amalie Arena. It was the eighth consecutive regular season game that the Lightning defeated Detroit on home ice proving their dominance once more.
Monday’s cancellation in Carolina allowed the Red Wings to focus on an even bigger rival in hopes of ending a long-standing streak. Detroit has lost the last seven games when visiting the Lightning that dates back to Feb. 2011. Tampa has run the Red Wings out in more situations that just the regular season.
Since figuring out their offensive problems, they’ll hope to bring together an answer to shatter their woes in Florida. Tampa began a long seven-game homestand hoping to improve after going 2-7-2 in their last 11. The Lightning are without three of their best shooters on the team which gave the Red Wings a possible chance but Bishop’s stance in net always proves difficult for them.
The Lightning ran with the puck for quite some time to start the period, leaving Detroit to push for a turnover. Despite gaining puck possession they were unable to find a decent chance of shooting one at Bishop. This led to Tampa taking a lead on shots to the net giving all they had to Jimmy Howard between the pipes. Brian Boyle gave his team a 1-0 deflecting a shot from Anton Stralman earning his seventh of the season.
They maintained control through the rest of the season but the Red Wings showed their fight to level the score. Their shots on goal didn’t match that of their Atlantic Division rivals but activity from their best shooters was a strong point in a show of competition. A fight broke out between Detroit forward Andreas Athanasiou and Tampa right winger J.T. Brown.
Brown got the best hit of the night landing an uppercut to Anthanasiou receiving a show of support from the Tampa Bench. They handed Detroit a second power play but were unable to convert on the man advantage. The first ended with the Lightning outshooting the Red Wings 13-7 despite being outdone on the faceoff dot.
The second saw little action between the teams through the first five minutes. It soon increased with the Lightning getting a power play early on. Detroit put an end to that but still had trouble on even strength to get the tying goal. The situation got worse for the Red Wings as a collision occurred in net with Nick Jensen crashing into Howard that sent the Detroit netminder down and in considerable pain. He needed to be helped off the ice immediately sending Petr Mrazek in to finish the night.
He soon faced a Tampa power play that made good work on their chances. Jonathan Drouin set up for a fake shot that attracted the attention of Mrazek. His shot flew by the right of the Red Wings goaltender scoring his eighth and a strong 2-0 lead for the Lightning. The Red Wings wanted to get into the game by any means and earned the chance to do so in the late stages. Mistakes by Tampa handed the Red Wings a massive 5 on 3 that could have sent the game into a different direction.
Instead of the score changing, the tide of control left the hands of Detroit earning a penalty during their two-man advantage. It was there that Tampa overwhelmed the struggling power play unit and killed off the chances. They later answered with a power play goal by Brayden Point earning the 20-year-old center man his third on the year with three minutes left. It got worse for the Red Wings as Vladimir Namestnikov added his name to the scoresheet notching his fourth on Mrazek. The period came to an end with the Lightning once again getting the absolute best playing Detroit with a solid lead going into the third. Detroit outshot them 12-11 in the second stanza but the real story left them wondering how to overcome a four-goal deficit with only twenty minutes left in regulation.
The game turned into 20 minutes of defense for Tampa who felt they had a lock on the scoreboard as well as their struggling opponents. For the duration of the period, the Lightning pushed had that included a four-minute power play early on. Though they didn’t increase their margin of victory, Tampa held back Detroit from gaining any surge on ice.
It wasn’t until the tail end of the period that all the Red Wings wanted to do was to prevent being shutout. In the final minute, Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg made that happen as he and Anthony Mantha got ahead for an offensive attack. It was there that Mantha took a shot on Andrei Vasilevskiy to pick up his fifth. It stood as their lone answer to a night they thought would be different but ended in yet another defeat.
Detroit was left with no other option but to move ahead of their defeat to Tampa and prepare for Friday night’s matchup against the Florida Panthers in their second of a three-game road trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment