After picking up points in nine consecutive games, the Tampa Bay Lightning saw its point streak come to an end in a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Monday night at AMALIE Arena.
Following a scoreless first period that saw the Bolts outshoot the Wings 16-12, Detroit grabbed the lead 37 seconds into the middle frame with Patrick Kane netting his 18th goal of the season with a backhand shot that got past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Later on in the second period, Victor Hedman was sent to the penalty box for tripping, but it was Tampa Bay that would take advantage of the special teams opportunity with Anthony Cirelli scoring his second shorthanded goal of the season to even the score at 1-1.
Working with Brandon Hagel to disrupt Detroit’s entry into the Lightning zone, Cirelli burst down the ice and fired a shot to the far post for his 19th goal of the season, tying his career-high set in 2018-19.
Entering the third period in a 1-1 tie, the Red Wings grabbed the lead 3:40 into the frame with Robby Fabbri jumping on a rebound in front of the net and lifting the puck past Vasilevskiy to put the Bolts in a 2-1 hole.
But after Andrew Copp was sent off for a boarding penalty just 31 seconds later, Steven Stamkos stepped up and hammered a slap shot past Alex Lyon to make it a 2-2 game with 14:01 remaining in the third period off assists from Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.
As the teams battled for a crucial two points, Detroit got the game-winning goal off the stick of David Perron with 2:40 remaining in regulation. After Vasilevskiy made an initial save on a shot from Moritz Seider, the veteran Perron was able to beat a Lightning defender to the loose puck and score his 15th goal of the season.
Lucas Raymond added an empty-net goal at the 18:57 mark of the third to cap off the 4-2 win for the Red Wings.
Vasilevskiy made 28 saves on 31 shots against in the defeat.
Bolts by the Numbers
- Anthony Cirelli scored his second shorthanded goal of the season, tied with Tyler Motte for the most among all Lightning skaters. Cirelli has now scored 13 career shorthanded goals, tied with Vincent Lecavalier for the third-most in Tampa Bay franchise history. Cirelli is up to 41 points this season (19-22—41) and has tied his career-high for goals in a single season (also: 2018-19).
- Steven Stamkos scored his 211th career power-play goal and passed Luc Robitaille to take sole possession of the third-most power-play goals with a single franchise in NHL history. Stamkos also tied Gordie Howe for the 15th-most power-play goals overall in NHL history. Stamkos has scored four goals over his last five games (4-0—4) and is up to 67 points on the season (31-36—67).
- Brandon Hagel picked up on the lone assist on Cirelli’s shorthanded goal and is up to 67 points on the season (23-44—67). Hagel has recorded four helpers over his last four games (0-4—4).
- Brayden Point recorded the primary assist on the Stamkos goal and is up to 82 points on the season (42-40—82). Point has picked up nine points over his last six contests (6-3—9).
- Nikita Kucherov picked up the secondary helper on the Stamkos goal and is up to 127 points on the season (42-85—127), tied with Nathan MacKinnon for the most among all NHL skaters. Kucherov has 21 points over his last 10 games (4-17—21) and is one point shy of tying his own Lightning franchise record for points in a single season.
Bolts Quotes
- Jon Cooper: “We haven't lost in regulation since the first week of March and we're in April. We've asked a lot from the guys and they've delivered. At some point, we were going to lose a game in regulation. We weren't going to run the table. Unfortunately, it's to a team that's chasing us. But when you get down to this time of year, you're playing everybody in your Conference anyway, so you're going to run into these teams. I can't sit here and be hard on the guys. They've played really well for us and they played well in spurts tonight. The mind checked out a couple times and we got burned for it. It happens in games. That's why you don't see teams go 82-0.”
- Anthony Cirelli: “Just have a short memory. Obviously, we'll go over it tomorrow and see some things that we didn't do as well that we had done over the past month. It's another opportunity for us next game to come out hard and get back to the way we were playing before.”
Krenner’s Three Stars
1. David Perron
2. Anthony Cirelli
3. Alex Lyon
Lightning Look Ahead
- Wednesday, April 3 at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET, Scotiabank Arena
- Thursday, April 4 at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET, Bell Centre
- Saturday, April 6 at Pittsburgh Penguins, 1 p.m. ET, PPG Paints Arena
