TAMPA -- Putting forth a strong team effort but ultimately dropping their second straight contest in regulation for the first time since a three-game stretch from Nov. 24-28, the Detroit Red Wings lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1, at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday night.
“I thought it was a pretty damn good effort by our group,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “If we could take a goal back, it would be their power-play goal. We misplayed that poorly, but we checked for our chances. We kept the game close. Had to open it up a little bit right near the end of the game and they capitalized, but created enough opportunities to find probably more than one goal.”
Finishing with saves for the Red Wings (36-23-7; 79 points) was netminder John Gibson, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 24 shots for Tampa Bay (40-20-4; 84 points).
“I still think that we created enough” J.T. Compher said. “It wasn’t super pretty the whole time, but that’s a team that blocks shots really well. And when you get it past their blocks, they have one of the best goalies in the world if not the best goalie in the world. They make it hard to score. The recipe has been going for years and years in this building and against them, you need to bear down and find a way to get the puck in the net.”
Neither Atlantic Division squad found the back of the net in the opening frame, despite the Lightning’s forecheck keeping the action down in the Red Wings’ defensive zone for some extended stretches and the visitors earning the game’s first man advantage with 3:46 left before the first intermission after Nikita Kucherov was called for hooking against Justin Faulk.
Forty-nine seconds into the second period, the game-opening goal came off the stick of Jake Guentzel on a carry-over power play from the tail end of the first to put the Lightning out in front 1-0. The 31-year-old forward managed to snap one through Gibson’s five-hole from the right hashmark for his first tally of the night.
As the middle frame progressed, Detroit pieced together a succession of strong shifts of sustained offensive-zone pressure and had some good looks but still couldn’t get one past Vasilevskiy. At 15:12, a shot from Declan Carlile deflected into the back of the Red Wings’ net but was waved off because Corey Perry collided with Gibson at the top of the crease while the puck was midair.
“We had our chances,” Alex DeBrincat said. “We just have to get guys to the net, bear down in front and put some in the net. Obviously, they have a world-class goalie over there but we got to find a way to put it in. It wasn’t going to be pretty tonight. We knew that. We got a lot of pucks to the net.”
After Gage Goncalves’ first goal of the game doubled Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-0 1:35 into the third period, Compher was at the net when he redirected Alex DeBrincat’s shot from the point to not only spoil Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid but also bring Detroit within 2-1 at 7:05. The secondary assist on Compher’s ninth goal of the season -- his first since Jan. 16 -- went to Patrick Kane.
"I had mentioned this morning there's a group of players that hadn't scored in a while," McLellan said. "J.T. now broke through in that area, so that's a good thing...Guys have to step up. It's just the way it is."
