RECAP: Rasmussen's four-point night pushes Red Wings past Lightning, 7-4

Confidence restored.

A day after head coach Derek Lalonde admitted his club was battling confidence issues, Michael Rasmussen's four-point night helped the Detroit Red Wings snap a six-game winless streak with a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena.
Captain Dylan Larkin and David Perron also had three points apiece for Detroit, which matched a season-high with seven goals.
"It feels really good," said Larkin, who now leads the Red Wings in goals (12), assists (19) and points (31) this season. "Especially against that team in our division, we had a great performance. Things didn't go our way the whole game, but we responded at every moment and stuck together. We played hard, did a good job on the penalty kill and it was just a massive two points for our hockey team."
Olli Maatta's goal tied the game, 1-1, midway through the first period, then Rasmussen evened the score at 2-2 shortly before the first intermission. Larkin put Detroit ahead, 3-2, at 11:08 of the second before Tampa Bay erased its one-goal deficit about two minutes later. The Red Wings pulled away from the Lightning with a four-goal final frame, as Elmer Soderblom and Larkin each recorded an even-strength tally while Perron and Rasmussen both scored on an empty Tampa Bay net.
Goalie Ville Husso made 34 saves for Detroit, which improved to 2-0 against the Atlantic Division rival Lightning this season. With the win, the Red Wings also moved to 14-11-7 (35 points) overall, while Tampa Bay fell to 20-11-1 this season.
"I thought we got what we deserved tonight," Lalonde said about Wednesday's result, the first time Detroit scored at least seven goals against the Lightning since a 9-1 victory on April 8, 1993.
The Red Wings recognized Tampa Bay assistant coach Jeff Blashill with a tribute video during the first period. Blashill spent the past seven seasons as Detroit's head coach and prior to taking over for the Red Wings, the Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., native served three seasons as the head coach of the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins.
NEXT UP: NHL Game No. 534 on Friday, Dec. 23 between Detroit and the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre has been postponed, and rescheduled to Monday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. due to severe weather expected to impact the area.

SCORING SUMMARY

Tampa Bay 1, Detroit 0 (1:29, 1st period)
The Lightning struck first just before the 90-second mark of the opening frame when Brayden Point scooped up a loose puck at center ice, skated into the right faceoff circle and fired a shot past Husso.
Detroit 1, Tampa Bay 1 (15:34, 1st period)
Pius Suter's behind-the-goal-line feed from one knee set up Maatta in front of Tampa Bay's crease to tie the game.

Tampa Bay 2, Detroit 1 (18:38, 1st period)
Alex Killorn finished a rebound that was initially waved off, but video replay confirmed that the puck quickly went in and out of Detroit's net.
Detroit 2, Tampa Bay 2 (19:32, 1st period)
Less than 60 seconds after the Lightning scored, Rasmussen tied the game when he tipped in Ben Chiarot's shot from the point for his fifth goal of the season. Oskar Sundqvist also recorded an assist on Rasmussen's first tally of the night.

Detroit 3, Tampa Bay 2 (11:08, 2nd period)
Larkin put a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle under the crossbar to beat Lightning netminder Brian Elliott. Perron and Rasmussen were each credited with an helper on the Red Wings captain's first goal of the game.

Tampa Bay 3, Detroit 3 (13:15, 2nd period)
Ross Colton stole the puck in Detroit's defensive zone and scored to erase Detroit's one-goal lead.
Detroit 4, Tampa Bay 3 (3:48, 3rd period)
The Red Wings capitalized on a Tampa Bay turnover when Soderblom scored off a goal-line feed from Joe Veleno. Soderblom extended his point streak to three straight games, marking a career-long.

Detroit 5, Tampa Bay 3 (9:46, 3rd period)
After taking a pass from Rasmussen, Larkin fired home the puck from a difficult angle for the eventual game-winner and his second tally of the night.

Tampa Bay 4, Detroit 5 (16:11, 3rd period)
Nikita Kucherov brought the Lighting back within one when his shot from the middle of the right faceoff circle snuck under Husso into the back of the net.
Detroit 6, Tampa Bay 4 (17:27, 3rd period)
Perron, assisted by Larkin, slung the puck into an empty net for his 11th goal of the season.

Detroit 7, Tampa Bay 4 (18:59, 3rd period)
An extra-effort play from Perron ensured the puck got to Rasmussen at center ice, who skated into Tampa Bay's defensive zone and capped the scoring with an empty-netter. Rasmusen finished Wednesday's contest with career-highs in goals (2) and points (4), marking his second multi-point game of the season.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on Wednesday's victory
"Just happy with the result. We're sitting here in an 0-4-2 stretch, but anyone who has watched us, we've been better than that. I wouldn't call it unlucky, just probably not complete in our game."
Rasmussen on his line's success against the Lightning
"I think we were just working. Everyone was doing their jobs well. I think we had a really good forecheck night and some good plays. Overall, I think everybody was just competing and getting to their spots. It just went well for us."
Larkin on the momentum from killing an early 5-on-3 Tampa Bay power play
"We went out, killed it off and got some big saves. That's a hard ask with a full two minutes pretty much against that unit. We did a good job, and I think we started to wake up and get engaged in the battle."