RECAP: ‘Happy flight’ home after Red Wings finish season-long five-game road trip with 4-2 win over Lightning

TAMPA BAY -- When the Detroit Red Wings wake up on Tuesday morning, their focus will shift to preparing for Friday’s game against the New York Rangers at Little Caesars Arena.

But until then, the Red Wings are going to enjoy every part of that winning feeling they recaptured by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2, at AMALIE Arena on Monday night.

“It’s going to be a happy flight, something we haven’t had recently, which is awesome,” said David Perron, who scored the go-ahead goal with 2:40 remaining in the third period. “Tomorrow is a day off. Hopefully we get through all that illness stuff. We’ve been good at home taking care of matchups. I think everyone is firing on all cylinders in our team game right now. We got to keep pushing.”

Goalie Alex Lyon made 34 saves to earn his first win since Feb. 27 for the Red Wings (37-30-8; 82 points), who snapped a four-game winless streak. Netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves for the Lightning (41-26-7; 89 points), who had their nine-game point streak halted.

With the win, Detroit also moved into a tie with the Washington Capitals (36-27-10; 82 points), who have two games in hand, for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.

“We haven’t been finding ways to get two full points on the road, but our guys are battling,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “Tonight was a perfect example. Just really proud of the group. A lot of adversity all year. A lot of ups and downs, and we’ve just kept in the fight. We got two full points tonight. That’s going to be a really good road trip.”

During a scoreless first period, Detroit couldn’t capitalize on its lone power-play opportunity but killed off a pair of penalties. One of the Red Wings' better scoring chances in the opening frame came at 16:10, when Lucas Raymond snuck behind the Lightning's defense for a breakaway but was denied by Vasilevskiy.

“I think, in a way, our first period might have been our worst when it comes to puck management,” Perron said. “After that, we were really tight.”

Patrick Kane’s 18th goal of the season gave Detroit a 1-0 lead just 37 seconds into the second period. The veteran forward scored on a no-look backhand rebound from inside the right face-off circle following a shot by captain Dylan Larkin.

After Anthony Cirelli had a pair of goals overturned to start the second period, the Tampa Bay forward stole the puck and skated in before scoring a short-handed tally at 8:36 to tie it 1-1.

Robby Fabbri gave Detroit a 2-1 lead at 3:40 of the third period with his second goal in as many games, cleaning up in front after J.T. Compher drove to the Lightning's net.

“Fabbs, to come up for a big goal like that, didn’t play too many minutes in the first two periods and finds a way again,” Perron said about Fabbri, who has tied his NHL career-high in goals (18) this season. “Last game, he’s literally puking before the game. That’s kind of going through our players right now, then he finds a way to score.”

Evening the score for the Lightning less than two minutes later on the power play, captain Steven Stamkos one-timed a pass from Brayden Point at 5:59 of the third period to make it 2-2.

Perron put Detroit ahead 3-2 at 17:20 of the final frame, tucking home a rebound in front off a shot from Moritz Seider following a face-off win. Compher had the secondary assist on Perron’s 15th goal of the season.

“He’s an emotional leader for us," Lalonde said about Perron. "No one wants it more than him. It’s one thing to talk, but he’s doing it by example.”

Lucas Raymond, who was assisted by Larkin, sealed the win with 1:03 remaining by scoring into an empty net. It was Raymond’s 25th goal of the season.

“As we’ve gone along here on this road trip, we’ve gotten more comfortable in the moment,” said Larkin, who recorded his 16th multi-point game of the season. “We’ve really kind of settled in and know what these games are going to be like. We’ve kind of calmed down a little bit, been able to make more plays and execute better.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will begin a three-game homestand on Friday night, first hosting the Rangers at Little Caesars Arena.

QUOTABLE

Perron on how valuable these two points are for Detroit

“It’s crucial. We got to keep finding points. Just prior to scoring my goal, we saw that the (Philadelphia) Flyers tied it up with 10 seconds to go. So fired up. We needed to find a way right away. Kind of a decision we talked right before the face-off, the way they covered off the win. Mo got it right away and I was able to get a stick on the rebound and it went in.”

Lyon on Tampa continuing to fight late in the third period

“It’s the best. That’s how and when you get better. Just got to make a cognicint effort to remember that and make a mental note of ‘this is how I’m feeling next time it happens’ because we’re going to be in that same situation again. Just got to learn and grow from it.”

Larkin on how important the players' extra-effort plays are to Detroit's success

“It’s everything. Mo, geez, how many big shots he blocked. He’s tough as nails and can continuously do it knowing it’s going to hurt. You look at Florida, we had 30 blocked shots. We did it again tonight. It’s hard to do every night, but we’ve been doing it and that’s the little things.”

Perron on Lyon’s night against the Lightning

“Unbelievable. Best player on the ice for us. That’s what we need from our goalies to be honest. The margin of error is very slim for us. We have to be solid all the time. We got to stick with the program and the game. It might be a 1-0 game, a 1-1 for 60 minutes and we go in a shootout. Whatever it is, we got to be super tight. That’s why it’s so rewarding right now. Not only did we win today, we got a point last game, it’s the way we did it.”