2. BACKED BY MAC
Curtis McElhinney had yet to win a start at AMALIE Arena this season, going 0-2-1 in Tampa to start the 2019-20 campaign.
The Lightning backup put together arguably his finest performance of the season Sunday, however, to end that dubious streak.
"It's frustrating I think if anything," McElhinney said. "I've had to be patient here, we're almost into the new year."
McElhinney wasn't tested often - he only faced 20 shots total, tied for the fewest the Lightning have allowed this season - but he made some outstanding stops when he did face pressure, especially early with the game still scoreless.
In the opening minutes, Detroit's Andreas Athanasiou got open down low with the puck and time and space, but McElhinney stuck out his right leg to deny the Red Wings' forward at the post.
Later in the first period, Luke Glendening received a pass up ahead from Filip Zadina at his own blue line and raced forward to gain a step on Erik Cernak, the only Lightning skater with a chance to catch him. McElhinney again held strong, forcing Glendening to backhand a puck wide of the target.
"It's nice to get into the game early with a couple key saves," McElhinney said. "There were some good opportunities pretty early, but I was able to get some legs on them and just kind of hold my ground a little bit."
The game settled down for McElhinney after the first. Detroit managed just 11 combined shots over the final two periods. The Red Wings had a couple 2-on-1 rushes in the third. Hedman forced an errant pass on one. McElhinney covered the second.
The Lightning backup improved to 4-4-2 on the season but will likely see his workload increase as Tampa Bay has three back-to-back sets over the next three weeks.
"The goalies played well, but I thought our goalie played exceptional," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "It was one of those games where we controlled the play quite a bit but we didn't give up a ton of shots, not a ton of chances, but we gave up two breakaways, two 2-on-1s. Mac was there to save it for us. It's two points we had to have, and they found a way."