The Detroit Red Wings won a hard-fought 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, closing the gulf between the teams to 4 points, though the Bolts have a game in hand on Detroit (48 to 49 games played).
Marco Kasper and Michael Rasmussen (empty-net) scored for Detroit, which received 28 saves from Cam Talbot. The Red Wings’ usual suspects, like Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider (who played 26:34, 20 more seconds than Nikita Kucherov played) et. al. were very good, but so was the pair of Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson. Johansson played 20:49, had 2 shots, 4 attempts, a team-high 3 hits, and an astounding 7 blocked shots.
Rasmussen was also tripped up by Nikita Kucherov while scoring the empty-net goal, yielding a nasty crash into the goal net, but coach McLellan believed that Rasmussen would be fine after the game.
The Red Wings definitely avenged their 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay last weekend, but with two more meetings with Tampa Bay to go, two teams that evidently don’t like each other–as exemplified by the shenanigans that went on between the two teams after the whistle on Saturday night–will have two more opportunities to renew hostilities.
For the Lightning, however, the game wasn’t a rousing win, or an OK loss given that they were playing back-to-back after defeating Chicago 4-3 in overtime on Friday. According to the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina, the Bolts deemed Saturday’s defeat “unacceptable“:
The Lightning have lost eight of their 10 road games in January, going 2-7-1. Their record in those games doesn’t indicate the way they’ve played, but they’ve been unable to execute when it mattered most and, as was the case Saturday, they’ve been unlucky away from Amalie Arena.
“Let’s call it what it is,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We did more than enough to win the game, and it’s tough for our guys to swallow because we gave ourselves (a chance). … That was our 14th game in 24 days, and the lion’s share of them are on the road. So that can come into effect. The guys are gaming this out, and it’s impressive to watch. Unfortunately, the outcome is not what we’re hoping for and used to. But there’s a lot of good things going on in that room, and like I said, we put ourselves in chances to win that game, and we just couldn’t finish. It’s clear we’re a little snake-bit right now.”
The Lightning returned home with three losses on the four-game trip, all against division opponents, giving them a 3-9-0 record against teams from the Atlantic.
“We’ve got a great group in here that knows what it takes to win,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. “And we’ve been through this before when you maybe don’t get rewarded for what you think you should. But at the end of the day it’s about winning games, and we’re not doing that right now, especially not on the road. Especially these divisional games, too, we’ve got to get points in these games.”
The Bolts also felt that they were besieged by the empty nets which they whiffed upon…
Talbot was remarkable, stretching out with his right pad to cut off the post to Anthony Cirelli with 1:34 left in the 6-on-5.
Guentzel then made a remarkable cross-ice pass to Hedman, who had the tying goal on his stick low in the left circle and an open net in front of him. But Hedman sailed the puck across the mouth of the net and wide of the far post with 44 seconds remaining. Just moments after that, Michael Rasmussen beat the Lightning to a rimmed puck and scored an empty-net goal to seal the game.
“We had some unreal looks throughout the game and did everything we could to capitalize, and a big zero on the score sheet and no points,” Hedman said. “So it’s disappointing with the effort we put forward. We’ve just got to trust in the process. And I like the way we played. We played a lot better (Saturday) than we did (Friday) and come away with nothing, so that’s part of the game sometimes.”
As they also told NHL.com’s Dave Hogg:
“We need to put the puck in the open net,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Let’s be honest – that’s what we missed. The goalie made some spectacular saves, but we had two six-by-fours where it was shocking to miss. I think the whole building was shocked those didn’t go in.”
…
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for the Lightning (26-19-3), who defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime on Friday.
“We lost three of four on this road trip, which is unacceptable,” Cooper said. “But if I rewind and think about how we played, there are a couple games where I’m awestruck we didn’t get any points. It’s clear we are a little snakebit.”
For the Red Wings, Saturday’s game was about self-belief, and goaltending…
“I thought we defended well, but your goaltender has to be your best player every night, and (Talbot) was that tonight,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “We lost 5-1 in Tampa 10 days ago, which wasn’t on Cam at all, but I knew he wanted this one.”
The Lightning hadn’t been shut out since a 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 14, 2023.
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Kasper scored at 9:55 of the second period, spinning to tip J.T. Compher‘s pass in off the post.
“We’re winning games, which gives everyone some confidence,” said Kasper, who has eight points (five goals, three assists) in nine games. “It’s fun when the puck goes in, but winning games is all we are trying to do.”
Cam Talbot had no problem with the concept that the Wings had luck on their side…
“That’s a team with a lot of winning pedigree over there, and they know how to pull out these tight games,” Talbot said. “Sometimes you just have to weather the storm and get lucky, and that’s what we did tonight.
And coach McLellan didn’t disagree while speaking with the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan…
“Big victory,” McLellan said. “We took advantage of a team that played last night and went 11 (forwards) and seven (defensemen) and really ran their big guys hard, and they were still effective at the end of the night. But we defended well and the penalty kill came up big and your goaltender has to be one of your better players most nights and he was that tonight.”
Vasilevskiy, generally considered the best goaltender in the league, displayed his elite form most of the night with 29 saves. But Talbot was just a bit better in the final glance, making a big save on Brayden Point with Vasilevskiy pulled with just two minutes remaining.
“That’s team with a lot of pedigree, winning pedigree, and know how to pull out these tight games,” Talbot said. “Kucherov sitting there with the puck, he has options and you know he’s going to find someone eventually. Give the guys in front of me a lot of credit, they blocked shots, and boxed out and let me see most of the pucks tonight and sometimes you have to weather the storm and get a lucky bounce. We did a little bit of all that tonight.”
Talbot was huge in the final two minutes, with Vasilevskiy pulled, frustrating Tampa on several opportunities. Along with the stop on Point, he stopped Anthony Cirelli on a rebound attempt and watched as Victor Hedman missed an open net from the side.
Talbot was in net last week in Tampa for that defeat but was hardly solely responsible for the result. McLellan felt Talbot was aching to earn another chance.
“We were debating on who we were going to start, and I’ve been around Talbs enough that he probably wanted to start after what happened in Tampa, and it wasn’t on him by any means,” McLellan said. “He had a good game the other night and I just had a gut feeling this is what he wanted and he got an opportunity and took advantage of it.”
The Wings were scoreless on three power-play attempts and killed both Tampa power plays.
“It proves we can win games any way we need to right now,” Talbot said. “We can put five or six (goals) on the board or we can make one (goal) hold up. That gives you a ton of confidence, especially against a team like that and coming back from what they did to us in their building last week. It shows mental fortitude in our team right now and you like to see that this time of year in a game we definitely needed.”
But coach McLellan emphasized the “mental fortitude” part to Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:
“The biggest thing is they have a sense of belief,” McLellan said. “How we got to believing where we can play with anybody, I’m not sure. We just started chipping away at different things and working at it and even tonight we were a little bit frustrated. I could feel it on the bench after the first period. We had some chances and then it wouldn’t go our way, and we had to come in and talk about it. It’s okay. That’s a pretty good period against a good team. Let’s learn how to win. Let’s relax and play.”
That belief carried the Red Wings to a 2-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a triumph that gives Detroit a 10-5 record since McLellan relieved fired Derek Lalonde. As of this writing, the Red Wings are four points out a playoff spot. They were eight out when the change was made.
Cam Talbot posted 28 saves to earn his 33rd career shutout. It was the first shutout in the McLellan Era. This was a critical win against an opponent the Red Wings are chasing for a playoff spot.
“It proves that we can win games any way we need to right now,” Talbot said. “We can put five or six on the board, or we can make one hold up. That gives us a ton of confidence, especially against a team like that, coming back from what they did to us in their building last week.”
Talbot also felt that the Wings won the special teams battle, despite going 0-and-3 on the power play, because Detroit negated 2 Tampa Bay power plays:
“Obviously our PK has stepped up pretty big the last few games,” Talbot said. “Obviously we tweaked that when (McLellan) came in. It’s not always easy to change things on the fly, so we knew there’s going to be some growing pains there. But I thought our penalty kill was outstanding tonight. Probably got us the win, especially against the power play like that.”
Talbot believes the team’s structure is better in all three zones. Detroit has given up two or fewer goals in nine of 15 games under McLellan.
“I feel like we’re just supporting the puck better,” he said, “breaking out in groups of five better or not panic flipping or icing or anything like that, and creating unnecessary faceoffs in our zone.”
And Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff noted that McLellan was happy to have gone with his gut feeling in goal:
Talbot is 7-1 in his last eight starts. The only blemish was a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay.
“We were debating on who we were going to start,” McLellan said. “I’ve been around Talbs enough to know that he probably wanted to start after what happened in Tampa. I just had a gut feeling this is what he wanted. He got the opportunity and took advantage of it.”
Talbot is also the first goaltender to shut out the Lightning in 113 games.
Update: Here’s a little more from DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills:
McLellan on Talbot’s experience helping him navigate key moments on Saturday
“We were debating on who we were going to start. I’ve been around Talbs enough that he probably wanted this start after what happened in Tampa [last Saturday]. That wasn’t on him by any means, but he had a good game the other night. Just had a gut feeling this is what he wanted, and he got the opportunity and took advantage of it.”
Talbot on how he believes the club has changed since McLellan and assistant coach Trent Yawney arrived
“First and foremost, I think our PK has stepped up pretty big the last few games. Obviously, we tweaked that when [McLellan and Yawney] came in. It’s not always easy to change things on the fly, so we knew there was going to be some growing pains there, but I thought our penalty kill was outstanding tonight. Probably got us the win, especially against a power play like that.”
Kasper the experience of going against talented players like Kucherov
“I think you got to know who you play against out there. Kucherov is one of the best players in the league obviously, so you always got to watch out for him. He likes to be on that right side. You got to cover the open guys. He’s a really good passer, and I think that’s what we really tried to do. Just don’t give him too much time, because then he’s going to make plays around you.”
Multimedia:
Highlights: Sportsnet posted a 10:22 highlight clip:
NHL.com posted a 9:53 highlight clip:
Post-game: The Lightning posted a clip of Victor Hedman, Nick Paul and coach Jon Cooper’s post-game comments;
The Red Wings posted a clip of Marco Kasper, Cam Talbot and coach Todd McLellan’s post-game comments:
The Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted a 5:16 clip of Kasper, Talbot and McLellan’s comments:
Photos: Reuters posted a 50-image gallery;
The Free Press posted a 37-image gallery;
The Detroit News posted a 15-image gallery.
Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:
