Red Wings suffer first lost at LCA in 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay

Nikita Kucherov #86 of the Tampa Bay Lightning pounds gloves with teammates on the bench following his first period goal during an NHL game against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on October 16, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)

Tampa Bay extended their winning streak with a hard push at Little Caesars Arena Monday night. Despite efforts from the Detroit Red Wings, the Lightning got the lead early in third and held through the remainder of the game winning 3-2 for their fourth straight. With their first win in a new arena, it forced Detroit to accept defeat there as well.

Detroit’s victory over the Golden Knights gave them a lot to be happy about with their leader; contributing more than seen in a while. Henrik Zetterberg had four points in the win over Las Vegas which livened the rest of his team to dominate. Their first challenge at home came against the Lightning who have been a contender of theirs and stand as their first challenge in the Atlantic Division. Tampa were going for their fourth straight win with three occurring at home. Detroit’s new home also helped out with their record hoping to reach a new milestone in six years. Jimmy Howard earned another start in his hope to keep the performance to the level he wanted.

 While he faced early strikes from the Lightning, Detroit turned the puck around to get their offense on a roll. It got better in the early moments of the first period catching a power play where they attacked goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. He and his team avoided going down early but were well aware of the Red Wings intentions to play heavier against them. Detroit got another power play but they suffered a moment of complete loss of concentration.

It was there that Tampa turned over the puck near the boards where Tyler Johnson ran off well ahead of the Red Wings with the puck. Johnson went one on one with Howard while shorthanded scoring unassisted for his third of the season. The goal did plenty to delay the game as the goal lights behind Howard would not turn off. After a minute or two, Detroit continued the man advantage but couldn’t even up the score. They went to 4 on 4 briefly before Tampa took over on the power play where a high shot from Nikita Kucherov beating the glove of Howard for his sixth.

The remaining minutes saw Tampa getting some more scoring chances in their quest to get well ahead of the Red Wings. They got another power play but Detroit’s PK was together at the right time to avoid the gap getting wider on them. The remaining minutes saw Detroit struggling while trying to get a goal in the period. They were unable to do so and nearly found themselves down three goals. Cedric Paquette went in on a wide-open net in the Detroit zone but a huge save by Xavier Ouellet bailing Howard out. When he got back between the pipes, there was still an attack from Tampa just before the period came to an end.

Detroit got a power play to start the period after a hard hit to Martin Frk occurred near the boards where Vladislav Namestnikov elbowed his head into the glass at the end of the first. They got a short time on the advantage when they committed a penalty putting Tampa back ahead. A perfect timing in the neutral zone allowed Justin Abdelkader to get the puck away from Victor Hedman going in on Vasilevskiy missing the shot. It came back to where Darren Helm got possession scoring the goal.

Tampa challenged the play due to goaltender interference but a hooking call from one of the officials came into play. Officials pulled the goal away but put Detroit back on the power play for a fourth time. Before it went into play, Detroit challenged the call and were allowed a penalty shot instead with Justin Abdelkader taking a second chance. He deked Vasilevskiy up with a combo before going five hole to get his team on the board.

Things settled down for a time after Howard made a critical save as the puck rolled very close to his right, stopping it just in time with his stick to the ice. The speed returned on Tampa’s fourth man advantage that was stopped by Detroit in response. After the PK did their job, the Red Wings offense went to work driving the puck at Vasilevskiy. Tomas Tatar who was looking for his career 100^th goal got in on the scoring chances but was still denied the honor at home.

They continued to lead on the shots on goal with the lines quite active to get the game tied up. With three minutes left, a three man play started with Mike Green delivering a centering drive that bounced off the pads of Vasilevskiy. When he moved closer to the Lightning goaltender, the rebound got right to him scoring his first of the season. Zetterberg almost made it a Detroit with a shot right at the net but the puck flew parallel of the net. It didn’t stop them from charging at Tampa but the Lightning didn’t let them get ahead after 40 minutes.

The third was a huge moment for Detroit to hold off their division rivals with the score dead even and either team making the first move. Tampa was first to do so on a Detroit turnover that cost them bigger then the gap that grew again. The Lightning fourth line worked together with captain Steven Stamkos that allowed Kucherov scoring his second of the night on a tap of the puck going through the five hole of Howard.

The lead not only gave them confidence to move on but a sense of strength for the first time leading on shots to the net. Time was becoming a limited commodity for the Red Wings to level the game back or suffer a tough finish. With another unconverted power play, Detroit was running out of time and options to make a third goal go in to extend the game. Despite a sixth attacker on the ice in the final 90 seconds, the Red Wings couldn’t get it done accepting their first loss on home ice.

Vasilevskiy had every reason to be happy about his 29 save night on the road for a .935 save percentage and his fifth victory this season. Like the new Detroit barn, Howard also felt the heavy loss to take despite allowing three on the night. They’ll have no choice but to move on and prepare for Wednesday’s match against the Toronto Maple Leafs.