Red Wings-Lightning quick take: Wings out-shoot Lightning 40-22, lose 5-1

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to sweep Florida as they faced the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, kicking off a stretch of back-to-back games on Gasparilla Day at Amalie Arena.

Detroit certainly got “pirated” in their own way by the Lightning on Saturday, out-shooting Tampa Bay 40-22 and earning a 6-to-3 power play advantage, but losing 5-1 to the Bolts.

Tampa Bay was incredibly effective in scoring a power play and two even strength goals in only 3:52 of 2nd period time, and between Nikita Kucherov’s brilliance (he hit the 600-assist mark tonight) and Andrei Vasilevskiy frustrating the Wings almost endlessly…

Detroit did register a power play marker to make it 4-1, from Lucas Raymond (via Patrick Kane and Moritz Seider), but the game’s score got no closer, and Taylor Raddysh’s goal 15:06 into the 2nd period gave Tampa 4 second period goals and, ultimately, a 5-1 victory.

Cam Talbot wasn’t really at fault for any of the 5 goals he gave up on 16 shots, and Alex Lyon stopped all 6 shots that he faced in relief; Vasilevskiy stopped 39 of 40 and faced SEVENTY-EIGHT shot attempts, but Tampa blocked 25 and Detroit fired 13 wide.

The other ugly stat: Detroit went 1-for-6 in 11:56 of PP time; Tampa went 2-for-3 in 2:31.

Detroit will fly to Dallas and regroup for tomorrow night’s game (8 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/Victory+/97.1 FM).

In pregame warmups, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Cam Talbot led their respective teams out for warmups:

Tampa dressed their expected lineup…

The Red Wings revealed their lineup just before game time:

Here are the starters and scratches:

In the 1st period, J.T. Compher’s line took the opening faceoff vs. Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov, the Wings won the back and ripped the puck down the ice, where Tampa’s defense chased the puck down and set up their breakout.

Changing lines, Point, Raddysh and Tampa Bay tried to sustain a forecheck, but Compher reversed to Simon Edvinsson, Lucas Raymond came out 50 seconds in, and the Wings changed their forward lines…

But iced the puck at 1:01, but Detroit won the deep defensive zone faceoff, pushed the puck deep into the Bolts’ end, and repelled an attack as Larkin, Kasper and Raymond battled the Bolts at Detroit’s blueline.

Then Seider and Chiarot turned the puck over in the Red Wings’ zone, Tampa worked the puck to the point while double-shifting Kucherov…And Brayden point tipped home a point shot tipped by Dylan Larkin wide and then and bouncing off the back boards to make it 1-0 Tampa Bay at 2:02.

Point scored at 2:02 of the 1st period from Lilleberg and Perbix. 1-0 Tampa Bay.

Detroit tried to regroup with Kane, DeBrincat and Copp pushing the puck deep, but instead, Copp had to race back to cover for his defense, Gustafsson got tied up in his own skates, and Kucherov and company cycled, but Detroit stole the puck and cleared the zone before Point, Guentzel and Kucherov raced back in and tried to generate offense.

Vladimir Tarasenko then got a slot shot on Vasilevskiy thanks to a good cycle by Berggren;

Talbot stopped Nick Paul at 4:15 in the Wings’ zone, and as Tampa Bay dominated possession and control north of center ice, Detroit was clearing the puck, then defending, clearing the puck, then defending some more.

On a 3-on-2, Kane had to drop the puck to Gustafsson because Tampa had every Red Wings forward covered, but, to their credit, Detroit held the puck in and cycled until the Bolts tripped Andrew Copp sans penalty and cleared their zone;

Joe Veleno, Michael Rasmussen and Christian Fischer battled the Bolts’ fourth line, which includes Luke Glendening, and the Wings won the neutral zone battle, afforded the Wings a line change, and Dylan Larkin cut toward the net and was stifled by Vasilevskiy;

Soon after, Brandon Hagel was called for a grab on Marco Kasper, and while he was furious, Hagel had to sit at 6:52.

On the power play, Larkin drew in for the deep offensive zone draw opposite Glendening, the Bolts won the draw but Seider retrieved it for Larkin, to Seider and Kane it went, down for DeBrincat, tipped away and out of play before DeBrincat could get the puck to Raymond.

Larkin was booted from the next faceoff, so Lucas Raymond drew it back for Kane, Kane fed Raymond left side, he dropped to Seider, back to Raymond, down to DeBrincat and back and held in by Seider, but Raymond could not hold the zone.

So Detroit dropped through center and raced in with Raymond passing wide of Kane;

Seider fed Raymond who found Larkin, he circled the net for Seider, Kane fed Raymond but Cirelli blocked it, Seider, Larkin missed the net, DeBrincat stopped by Vasilevskiy, Raymond to Seider, walked to Larkin to Kane, cycle for Kane from Larkin, Kane circling, Larkin faceoff circle shot stopped, Kane for Larkin blocked away and that ended the power play.

The Compher line came out for the post-PP shift, and Point, Hagel and Guentzel worked with Perbix and Point got a shot off that Talbot stifled, but Hedman held the line, Johansson and Berggren battled to clear the zone, and we were back to defend-and-clear-and-defend-and-clear-again.

As play continued, Detroit was counter-attacking fairly decently, but it was Tampa Bay that was dictating the pace of play, and a couple of offside plays didn’t help the Wings as the first TV timeout hit at 10:41.

After the TV timeout, Detroit was at least chipping, but Vasilevskiy was chasing, and when he fumbled an outlet pass to Seider, Seider fed Raymond, and Raymond put the puck into Vasilevskiy’s gut from the hash marks.

Seider was doing a very good job of facilitating offense, and hitting opponents, leveling Connor Geekie…

But Tampa Bay continued to dictate the pace of play, and 12 minutes in, the Wings led in shots, but not goals.

Detroit was winning faceoffs like nobody’s business, however, going 9-and-2 over the first 12:26, and Detroit certainly had the play-on-sticky-ice game down.

On a 2-on-1, Kane fed DeBrincat, and Vasilevskiy read the play and made the save look easy…

Veleno, Fischer and Rasmussen were helped by Seider and Chiarot on the next shift, generating zone time and pressure on Vasilevskiy and the Lightning defense;

Tarasenko was stripped of the puck by Lilleberg, but he was able to get a side-of-the-net shot in on Vasilevskiy;

Talbot then made a very good stop on a Taylor Raddysh shot that was tipped into him by a Bolt forward;

When play resumed after the next TV timeout, Detroit couldn’t quite establish a forecheck, but Raymond, Larkin and Kasper bothered the Bolts’ defense a bit before going off on a change;

On the next shift, Moritz Seider got two shots off on Vasilevskiy;

DeBrincat clanged a shot off the post;

Copp fed DeBrincat for a good slot shot;

and Seider was dominant, blocking clears, generating shots and generally commanding the ice.

Rasmussen was sprung with about 4:00 via Gustafsson, but Vasilevskiy was there;

Detroit was doing a better job of standing up at its own blueline as well, affording Tampa less time and space to wind up through the neutral zone.

The Berggren-Compher-Tarasenko line was really doing admirable work in terms of sustaining a forecheck and firing shot attempts at or near Vasilevskiy, and when Albert Johansson tried to get away from Mitchell Chaffee, Chaffee sat at 17:56.

On the power play, the Wings led with their first unit. Larkin tied up the draw to Seider and he boomed a shot into a Bolt;

Seider fed Raymond to Larkin it went, blocked, Seider for Larkin too far, Larkin retrieves, to Seider drop to Larkin through center for DeBrincat to Raymond lw side to Seider slid deep for Raymond lw low to Seider center point to Larkin loses it to Cirelli, and Seider has to battle Hagel in the Wings’ end.

Detroit regrouped with 1:00 left in the PP and 1:03 left in the 1st, and Kane blazed in, fed Gustafsson, he reversed to Kane and Vasilevskiy stopped #88.

Compher, Rasmussen, Tarrasenko, Berggren and Gustafsson held the blueline, worked the puck to the center point, worked the perimeter, Tarasenko fed Gustafsson but he fanned on a pass, and that was pretty much the power play, save a good sweep by Compher to Tarasenko and a feed from Gustafsson to the slot that was blocked.

End 1st. 1-0 Tampa Bay.

In the 2nd period, Larkin, DeBrincat and Raymond started with Chiarot and Seider, and the Wings won the initial faceoff…But Detroit was called for tripping as Marco Kasper went off for Brandon Hagel falling over after Kasper fell 4 seconds in.

On the PK, Jake Guentzel took a pass from Nikita Kucherov off the won faceoff, and it was Raddysh, Kuherov, Guentzel, goal.

Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead at 16 seconds thanks to a goal from Jake Guentzel from Kucherov and Raddysh.

On the bump-up shift, DeBrincat, Copp and Kane generated a couple of shot attempts and one shot on Vasilevskiy, and Gustafsson got caught pinching, but was covered by Holl…

Tampa Bay held pressure in the offensive zone, however, and while DeBrincat made the block on Guentzel, Kucherov skated in from the point, got around Kane and DeBrincat, and chipped a shot through Talbot at 1:50 of the 2nd.

3-0 Tampa Bay at 1:50 2nd period. Kucherov from Hedman and Guentzel.

On the bump-up shift, Seider and Chiarot generated a shot on Vasilevskiy, and Compher and Copp forced Vasilevskiy to grab a puck at the side of the net…

But not much else happened on that shift, and as Tampa was starting to win faceoffs, Paul fed Hagel who fed Cirelli 3-on-1, Talbot stopped that, and Edvinsson blocked a Hagel wraparound goal attempt.

Detroit did a better job of working in the Lightning zone, with Larkin, Kasper and Raymond setting the tone for Veleno, Rasmussen and Fischer, who cycled, jammed at the net, and Seider made a gorgeous recovery against Cam Atkinson…

The problem was that every time the Red Wings made a turnover, the Lightning scored.

3:58 into the 2nd, Mitchell Chaffee was the recipient of a good forcheck by Luke Glendening and a fine pass from Cam Atkinson. 4-0 Tampa Bay.

On the post-goal shift, Kane, DeBrincat and Copp just got strung out, so they were unable to convert on a 3-on-2…

So that was 3 goals in 3:52 for Tampa Bay.

Detroit got a crucial power play as Eyssimont hooked the snot out of Berggren at 6:24, affording Detroit the PP.

On the power play, Detroit didn’t win the initial draw, but Seider held the line the first time, could not hold the line the 2nd time, and DeBrincat and Kane skated into the zone, were pinned, Larkin helped along the boards, but Tampa retrieved the puck and Seider could not hold the line a 3rd time…

So with 1:15 left in the PP and 12:50 left in the 2nd, Detroit tried to convert a DeBrincat-to-Larkin pass that did not work, Seider and Tarasenko cycled, Raymond circled on the right wing side, Tarasenko looked for DeBrincat and then Seider’s point shot was stopped by Vasilevskiy.

The 2nd unit came out with 43 seconds left in the PP, and Compher won the draw to Gustafsson, Tarasenko tucked it down low to Rasmussen, he was stopped, Berggren was dumped sans penalty, Gustafssosn blubbed a keep-in, Cirelli circled vs. Tarasenko and the Bolts were able to regroup, Hagel walked in and slapped a shot into Talbot with 8 seconds left in the PP.

Needless to say, the power play did not work well.

It was the kind of night where Copp tried to feed Veleno, and Copp hit Veleno in the back of the leg, stinging his teammate…

Kucherov, Point and Guentzel were dekeing and dangling all over the ice…

Larkin couldn’t drop the puck to Raymond without a Bolt stick getting in the way;

As the 10:00 mark passed, Detroit was flat as a pancake, and while Patrick Kane fed Holl in the faceoff circle, and DeBrincat pounced on a Lightning turnover, nothing came of those events.

The Bolts also went after Patrick Kane when he jabbed at Vasilevskiy, so DeBrincat and Copp came in to protect #88 from Brayden Point’s hacks and whacks.

Detroit was doing a great job of pushing the nexus of play into Tampa Bay’s zone, but nothing was coming from their efforts.

Instead, Eyssimont got hooked and Dylan Larkin got tripped, and, thankfully, Eyssimont was called for his second penalty of the night, a trip, at 12:16.

On the power play, Tampa Bay won the initial faceoff and cleared the puck down the ice;

Gustafsson and Compher worked the puck in for Rasmussen, but the Bolts took over, cycled, Detroit tried to hold the blueline but could not, and Hagel and Cirelli hassled Gustafsson, Tarasenko and Berggren below the Red Wings’ goal line for 15 seconds.

Gustafsson worked the puck all the way up the ice and deep into the Bolts’ zone, Tarasenko and Rasmussen fed Seider, he regrouped and cycled to Kane, Seider fired wide, Rasmussen centered to Compher and the Bolts cleared their zone.

With 20 remaining in the PP, DeBrincat and Raymond exchanged and exchanged, Seider fed Raymond to Kane to RAYMOND AND RAYMOND MADE IT 4-1 ON THE ONE-TIMER at 14:12 of the 2nd period.

Lucas Raymond scored from Patrick Kane and Moritz Seider at 14:12, PP…

But then Ben Chiarot tripped Nikita Kucherov and sat for tripping at 14:32.

On the penalty-kill, Larkin won the initial faceoff and circled his net, chipped the puck down the ice, and Compher bothered the Bolts up the ice;

Detroit was able to clear Kucherov’s pass to Guentzel to the blueline, but not out of the zone…

And Tyler Raddysh scored as a result. Tampa led 5-1 at 15:06 because Kucherov fed Raddysh on a give-and-go, there was traffic in front of Talbot in the form of Jake Guentzel, and that was that.

Raddysh scored from Kucherov and Guentzel at 15:06 2nd period, PPG.

Detroit did not give up, but the Wings were in quite the hole, and everything was going wrong at the worst time.

When Tarasenko fed Compher in the slot of the Bolts’ zone, he gave the puck to Compher’s left side, not his right stick, and Compher could not generate a shot off the bad pass;

Albert Johansson was tripped up by a Bolt and that nearly led to a goal against, with the refs turning a blind eye to the next two penalizable offenses…

Seider blasted a slot shot off Vasilevskiy’s blocker;

Talbot had to make 3 saves on Brayden Point on a mini-breakaway;

Regrettably, Raddysh got hit in the face by Justin Holl and Patrick Kane’s give-and-go, and he emerged OK…

As the 2nd period wound down, Detroit was at least working hard along the boards and through the middle of the ice, but Tampa was taking away Detroit’s time and space, and the result was more or less a foregone conclusion.

In the 3rd period, the Red Wings placed Alex Lyon in goal to give Cam Talbot some relief.

Of course the Red Wings got scrambled and Lyon had to make a sneaky stop against the Bolts’ confident 4th line, which pushed the Wings’ 1st line around for the first 35 seconds of play…

To their credit, the Compher line came out and got a hell of a lot of help from Johansson and Edvinsson, who had a very good shift together in the Bolts’ zone…

On the next shift, Patrick Kane was dumped behind the Bolts’ net, but nothing was noticed by the refs…

Detroit was trying to force plays to work, and it wasn’t working very well for them. Tampa would block passes and block shots, and the flow that the Red Wings needed to build for Sunday’s game in Dallas was not apparent.

The effort was there. The fit and finish were wonky.

Jonatan Berggren got a long shot off that Vasilevskiy stopped at one end 3:40 in, and at the other end, Johansson blocked a Girgensons shot that would have challenged Lyon;

Kasper got a very good chance off in the slot some 4:35 in, but Vasilevskiy was himself, and made an easy stop;

But when Christian Fischer and Michael Rasmussen had a 2-on-1 in tight to Vasilevskiy in the Bolts’ slot, Tampa was able to make the play look bobbled and bumbly…

The Wings did a good job vs. Kucherov, Guentzel and Point, with the Copp line playing strong defensively;

A Seider turnover in front of his own net was stifled by Seider and Chiarot–and a save by Lyon on Girgensons;

And with 9:11 gone in the 3rd, Eyssimont wenet for tripping both Christian Fischer and the linesman, which the Lightning vigorously disagreed with.

On the power play, Larkin won the initial faceoff, but Seider’s point shot was blocked;

Detroit regrouped and re-entered the zone, Larkin cycled to DeBrincat and Seider, Raymond fed Seider, to Kane it went, drop to Larkin, shot wide, and the rebound went out to center and down the ice…

Raymond raced through center, fed Kane and Kane was stifled by Vasilevskiy and the Bolts, who cleared the puck with 50 left in the PP;

The 2nd unit came out and Kasper, Rasmussen, Compher, Gustafsson and Tarasenko cycled, Compher AND Rasmussen AND Tarasenko were stopped by Vasilevskiy…

And the penalty expired with 9:49 left in the 3rd period.

As play continued, Tampa tried very hard to disrupt the Wings’ rushes, and while J.T. Compher got 1 good shot off and 3 good chances on Vasilevskiy, he could not convert…

Detroit’s “flow” increased significantly over the final 6:30 of play, which was at least a good sign for Sunday’s game vs. Dallas, as the Wings had the Bolts running around and Vasilevskiy stopping puck after puck after puck…

The Wings hit 40 shots on Vasilevskiy about 13:50 into the 3rd period…

And Tampa Bay headed back to the penalty box at 14:55 as Mitchell Chaffee cross-checked Gustafsson at center ice.

On the power play, Detroit lost the initial faceoff, so Gustafsson and Berggren worked through center ice, Tarasenko held the point, he cycled with Compher, Gustafsson and Berggren, Rasmussen kicked a puck that the Lightning fired out of play and almost into Jeff Blashill…

The Lightning won the next faceoff with 1:16 left in the PP, and the 1st unit skated up through center, Kane tried to feed DeBrincat back door, but Glendening cleared the zone…

Seider and Larkin worked through center and the Bolts poked the puck free, DeBrincat could not hold the blueline after a puck battle, and Detroit regrouped…

DeBrincat fed Raymond, to Larkin over the net, Raymond to Kane to Seider for Raymond, down low Larkin, to Raymond,d 10 left PP, DeBrincat to Larkin, tied up, Raymond cycled, and the Bolts killed the penalty…with 3:05 left in regulation time.

Tampa finally boiled over with 1:45 left in regulation, and Marco Kasper didn’t trip Geekie, who lost an edge, but the Bolts went crazy, attempting to attack Kasper, Compher, Tarasenko and Gustafsson.

Detroit took a penalty of course, with Kasper sitting for boarding and Gustafsson sitting for roughing. Eyssimont sat for roughing, and that was a Tampa Bay power play.

On the PK, Tampa won the initial faceoff and Lyon made a big stop on Hedman;

Tampa cycled to Hedman, back to Kucherov, he was stifled by Lyon and Detroit cleared down to Vasilevskiy;

Tampa worked the puck up the middle of the ice and then to the side boards, where Atkinson, Hagel and company were checked and blocked by Compher;

The Bolts worked back into the Wings’ zone, Hedman held the line, Paul, Kucherov, and then Paul took a shot and it was blocked high and wide of the goal with 19.9 left in the 3rd.

Detroit’s Veleno lost the last faceoff, Tampa worked the perimeter, Lyon made a good stop, and Detroit cleared the puck down the ice to end the game.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

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