Lightning dominate Red Wings
TAMPA, Fla. -- Both teams lost their starting goalies early to injuries, but the Tampa Bay Lightning dominated the Detroit Red Wings for their third win over them this season, breaking out of a slump with a 4-1 victory Tuesday at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning (16-14-3) won for only the third time in 12 games, getting two power-play goals and successfully killing off five power plays by Detroit (14-15-4), which has lost five of six games. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stepped in for Ben Bishop only eight minutes into the game, stopped the first 22 shots he faced from the Red Wings before losing the shutout on a goal by Detroit's Anthony Mantha with 10.5 seconds left.
Detroit lost its starting goalie, Jimmy Howard, early in the second period with what looked to be a right leg injury, with Petr Mrazek taking over but giving up three of the four goals. Detroit never found a rhythm, one night after their game at Carolina was delayed and eventually postponed because of a problem with the ice-freezing machine in Raleigh.
The Lightning dominated the second period, taking a 1-0 lead and extending it to 4-0, including two goals in the final three minutes.
Two Detroit penalties in a span of 26 seconds gave the Lightning an extended 5-on-3, but they needed only seven seconds before Jonathan Drouin -- who drew a tripping penalty to start the initial power play -- scored for his eighth goal and a 2-0 lead with 12:19 left in the second.
The Lightning faced a 5-on-3 against them for 40 seconds, but killed it off and the ensuing power play as well, a major step forward after allowing 14 power-play goals in 11 games coming in. Detroit's power play, ranked 29th out of 30 teams, went 0-for-5 in the first two periods.
Tampa Bay added another power-play goal with 2:56 left in the second as rookie Brayden Point flicked in a rebound off a Tyler Johnson shot for his third goal of the season. The Lightning converted a 2-on-1 breakaway with 32 seconds left in the period, with Alex Killorn passing to Vladislav Namestnikov for his fourth goal of the season.
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Brian Boyle, who got his stick on a long shot by defenseman Anton Stralman to redirect it past goalie Jimmy Howard with 12:58 remaining.
Bishop skated off the ice under his own power after making a kick save with his right leg with 7:46 left in the opening period. He was replaced by Vasilevskiy with Tampa Bay leading 1-0.
Early in the second period, Howard injured his right leg stopping a shot with 14:21 left and was not putting weight on his leg as he was helped off the ice.
NOTES: The Lightning continue to play shorthanded, going again without RW Ryan Callahan (lower-body injury), RW Nikita Kucherov (lower body), LW Ondrej Palat (undisclosed), in addition to C Steven Stamkos, who's 16 games into a four-month absence with a knee injury. Center Cedric Paquette returned after missing one game with an upper-body injury. ... The Red Wings had three healthy scratches in D Brian Lashoff, D Mike Green and RW Tomas Jurco, while Tampa Bay had one healthy scratch in D Nikita Nesterov.