Red Wings 2, Lightning 1
DETROIT -- Forward Dylan Larkin's goal early in the third period broke a tie and gave the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday night.
Center Riley Sheahan also scored for Detroit while goaltender Jimmy Howard made 29 saves.
Right wing Nikita Kucherov scored for Tampa Bay and goalie Ben Bishop made 27 saves.
Larkin gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead 5:54 into the third period. He cut in off the right wing and stuffed the puck past Bishop.
The play came after Tampa Bay left winger Ondrej Palat tripped over Howard and knocked the Detroit net off its moorings, but play continued. It was Larkin's fourth goal.
Kucherov hit the crossbar - off Howard's shoulder - with 12:18 left. A shot also deflected off Lightning left winger Alex Killorn and off the goal post with a little less than 11 minutes left.
Sheahan opened the scoring 2:02 into the second period when he beat Bishop with a wrist shot from the high slot off the rush after knocking down a tip pass from left winger Tomas Tatar with his glove in the neutral zone. It was Sheahan's second goal and first in eight games.
Kucherov tied it with a 5-on-3 power-play goal with 4:02 left in the second period. He put in a loose puck from the bottom of the right circle for his fourth goal.
NOTES: Detroit was without C Pavel Datsyuk (ankle), LW Johan Franzen (concussion-like symptoms), C Brad Richards (back), D Mike Green (shoulder) and D Kyle Quincey (concussion protocol). ... Tampa Bay was missing LW Jonathan Drouin (lower body) and C Cedric Paquette (ankle). ... Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and Lightning coach Jon Cooper are good friends. They met as youth coaches in Michigan several years ago and coached against each other in junior hockey and in the American Hockey League. ... RW Tomas Jurco was a healthy scratch for Detroit ... D Nikita Nesterov was scratched for Tampa Bay. ... The Lightning beat the Red Wings in a first round Stanley Cup Playoffs series in seven games last season.