#LGRW Final: Red Wings post strong road effort, fall to Lightning, 3-1

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings put forth a strong defensive effort on the road but were unable to generate enough offense to defeat the defending Stanley Cup champions, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1, on Friday night at Amalie Arena.

Detroit (2-8-2) opened the scoring but surrendered a pair of goals to Tampa Bay (7-1-1) and was unable to find the game-tying goal late, eventually surrendering an empty-net tally to extend the Lightning's home-winning streak to six games this season (6-0-0).
Despite the result, captain Dylan Larkin was pleased with the way the team bounced back after a tough 5-1 loss to the Lightning on Wednesday in the first game of the series.
"We showed up and we competed," Larkin said. "That's a heck of a hockey team over there and it was a one-shot game. We want to still clean up some small things, managing the puck better and line changes. I think our penalty kill did a great job. (Goaltender Thomas Greiss) was good tonight. We were right there. We worked just how we should work every night."

Former Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov tallied the lone goal of the night for the Red Wings, while Greiss made 29 saves two days after being pulled in the first period of Wednesday's loss.
"Nobody was happy with last game or the game before," Greiss said. "I thought we played a really good game today, we played them really tight. Obviously a really strong team over there, and we did a good job limiting their chances and played really hard and didn't make them look other-worldly."
The Red Wings' penalty kill also took a step in the right direction in the series, holding the dangerous Tampa Bay power play scoreless (0-for-7).
"You just have to stay with it and get a little bit better," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said of the penalty kill. "I think we've done that. I thought we had better clears and I thought we were hungrier. I thought we did a lot of good stuff on the penalty kill. I think it's building in the right direction."

After surrendering three goals in the first five minutes on Wednesday, Detroit had a much better start on Friday, carrying play in the offensive zone and outshooting Tampa Bay, 6-1, eight minutes into the opening frame.
The Red Wings were rewarded for their effort at the 10:00 mark of the first period. Filip Zadina, in his first game back from the COVID-19 protocol list, took a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected off Namestnikov's arm for his second goal of the season.
Greiss kept Detroit in the game early and made several strong saves, including stopping Anthony Cirelli on a partial breakaway with eight minutes remaining in the period.

However, the Lightning were able to notch the game at 1-1 at 13:56. Pat Maroon fired a shot from the high slot that made its way through heavy traffic in front of Greiss and into the back of the net.
Detroit outshot Tampa Bay, 12-9, in the middle frame, with the Red Wings' best chance coming from Zadina eight minutes into the period. But the Lightning scored the only goal of the frame, courtesy of a one-timer from Barclay Goodrow with 2:31 remaining to claim a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
The Red Wings were held without a shot for the first nine minutes of the third period before Larkin fired a one-timer that required a cross-crease save from Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay put the game out of reach with an empty-net tally from Goodrow, his second of the night, with 28 seconds remaining. The victory was the Lightning's 16th straight over the Red Wings in Tampa Bay.
Larkin said the team can build on the effort shown on Friday night, but needs to find a way to better generate and capitalize offensively.
"Tonight was much better," Larkin said. "We're still not there yet, but it was a much better effort. If we play that way and improve on some small things, we're going to be successful our next games in Florida."
The Red Wings continue their six-game road trip and look to snap their eight-game winless streak (0-6-2) with a pair of games against the Florida Panthers on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 3 p.m. and Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.