Red Wings use three-goal second period to defeat Lightning

TAMPA -- The Detroit Red Wings scored three second-period goals in a 5-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

It was Detroit's first win at Tampa Bay since Feb. 17, 2011. The Red Wings were 0-16-1 in their 17 previous regular-season road games against the Lightning.
Valtteri Filppula, Michael Rasmussen and Marc Staal scored in a 2:53 span in the second, and Thomas Greiss made 27 saves for the Red Wings (13-22-5), who won for the first time in four games.
"Honestly, the past record … if [the media] didn't tell us, we would have no idea to be dead honest with you," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "But certainly we haven't beat these guys much. Having success against them certainly feels good, especially the fact they are as good of a team as they are and the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"At the end really, for me it's about playing the right way and how the process of it went and I thought our process was good."

Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning (26-10-2), who have lost four of their past six games. Christopher Gibson, in his Tampa Bay debut, made 13 saves in his first NHL start since March 30, 2018.
"We're learning the lesson of how important every detail is in our game and how important it is to be in that structure for 60 minutes and not let our guard down at any point in the game," Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "It felt like we had good control of the game. We hadn't scored but it was 1-0 halfway through the second and we just let a few minutes in the game snowball into a big hole."
Dylan Larkin gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal with 13 seconds left in the first period.

Filppula made it 2-0 at 16:05 of the second with a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from Luke Glendening.
Rasmussen scored to make it 3-0 at 16:34 when he gathered a loose puck off the boards and pushed it past Gibson.
Staal made it 4-0 at 18:58 with a wrist shot from the point through traffic.
"We played well from the start, and Greiss was great again," Rasmussen said. "Everyone just played well. We clogged up the neutral zone pretty good and stuck to our system. We can play with whoever as long as we're playing our game and everyone is on the same page and working hard."
Greiss slid to his right to make a stick save on a shot by Steven Stamkos on a 3-on-1 rush at 7:08 of the second to keep the Red Wings ahead by one.
"We played a really good game, we didn't give them much," Greiss said. "We played tight in the neutral zone, we played a hard-checking game. Lot of blocks, solid [defensemen], they were unreal. Our [penalty kill], a lot of blocked shots. Just commitment and battle."

Detroit was 3-for-3 on the penalty kill after going 3-for-3 on Saturday.
Hedman scored to make it 4-1 at 4:12 of the third period on a wrist shot from above the circles.
It ended a goal drought of 96:46 for the Lightning, who had not scored since 7:26 of the first period in a 2-1 win against the Red Wings on Saturday. Tampa Bay's 129 goals (3.39 per game) are tied for third in the NHL with the Florida Panthers (3.31), behind the Colorado Avalanche (132; 3.57) and Washington Capitals (130; 3.42).
"Everybody likes to score, and when you're used to scoring and you don't, it gets a little uncomfortable," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Then you start taking shortcuts thinking you can give yourself a better opportunity to score. The only way you can do it is to work your way out of it.
"Eventually pucks that might not go in will start going in. It's the cycle of hockey and we just have to work our way through this."
Darren Helm scored an empty-net goal at 14:19 to make it 5-1.
"[The win is] huge, everyone knows they won a Stanley Cup and they are one of the top teams in the League," Greiss said. "It's always special to beat those kinds of guys."
NOTES: Lightning goalie Curtis McElhinney "tweaked something" Saturday and was unavailable to play, Cooper said, leading to Gibson getting the start. … Tampa Bay defenseman Ben Thomas had one shot on goal and was minus-1 in 14:23 in his NHL debut. … Glendening and Anthony Mantha each had two assists for the Red Wings. … Filppula's goal was his first since Feb. 19 against the Florida Panthers. He did not play in 14 straight games from March 2-April 1. . … Stamkos had an assist but has not scored a goal in the past six games, his longest drought of the season.