The Tampa Bay Lightning claim first place in the Atlantic Division after defeating the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa.
The Tampa Bay Lightning knew coming into tonight’s encounter they were faced with a must-win situation. The Tampa Bay Lightning opened the doors to the Amalie Arena to play host to the Detroit Red Wings in an Atlantic Division showdown. Including tonight’s encounter, there are just 10 more games left in the regular season. This means bringing home the two points is more important than ever.
Over the course of the last few games, one of the things the Tampa Bay Lightning has been missing has been the aggressiveness the team had during the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. While the Lightning has continued to score goals, they simply haven’t been able to really bring the offense to their opponents. Judging by what Tampa Bay Lightning fans saw in the first period of play, the Lightning were ready to put an end to that trend.
The Tampa Bay Lightning would strike first blood against the Red Wings tonight thanks to a goal just 1:47 into the first period at the hands of Lightning right wing Erik Condra. Ondrej Palat would earn his 16th assist of the season on Condra’s goal along with some help from Brian Boyle.
Just when you thought things couldn’t possibly look any better for the Tampa Bay Lightning, here comes Vladislav Namestnikov. Namestnikov was fighting for the puck in front of the net along with J.T. Brown. The pair of forwards continued to dig for the rebound, but it would be Vladislav Namestnikov who would get the puck past Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard and give the Lightning a two-goal lead in the first.
Unlike some of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s other encounters over the course of the last week, the Lightning absolutely dominated the Red Wings in the first twenty minutes of play, outshooting them 15-7. The question at this point would be whether or not the Tampa Bay Lightning would be able to keep the pressure on the Red Wings for the remaining 40 minutes of hockey.
Judging by the way the second period started, it seemed as if the Tampa Bay Lightning was ready to keep the pressure on. Just 33 seconds into the second period, the Lightning would play the puck in the offensive zone. Steven Stamkos would take the puck behind the net, but rather than play the puck around the net, he sent the puck flying in front of the net. The puck would ricochet off the skate of Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson and directly into the back of the net.
Unfortunately for the Detroit Red Wings, this would be the end of the night for goaltender Jimmy Howard. Taking his place between the pipes would be Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek. Mrazek has been ill for a while, having a fever over 103 degrees. This would be his first time between the pipes since his illness.
As Tampa Bay Lightning fans are starting to buy into the notion the Tampa Bay Lightning were going to play a consistent 60 minutes of hockey, they quickly started eroding into past bad habits. The Lightning allowed the Red Wings to make up a lot of room in the second period; a little more room than one would have hoped.
Taking us halfway through the second period, the Detroit Red Wings would register two goals; one from left wing Justin Abdelkader while on a power play. The other Red Wings goal would come at the hands of Red Wings center Darren Helm. This is where things would start to get a little dicey.
In the moments that would follow the two Red Wings goals, not one, but two Red Wings players would make a move on Nikita Kucherov. The one that struck a chord with the Tampa Bay Lightning was when Kucherov was cross-checked from behind by Justin Abdelkader and sent flying head first into the boards. Needless to say, Abdelkader made his reservation for two minutes in the sin bin.
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This is another one of those incidents where we wouldn’t be surprised if the play was reviewed by the NHL Department of Player Safety. The good news here is Nikita Kucherov wasn’t forced to miss much game time due to the clearly illegal hit. Unfortunately for the Red Wings, this opened the door for a thoroughly frustrated Tampa Bay Lightning to flip the switch and get back on track.
While Justin Abdelkader served his time in the penalty box, it would be Nikita Kucherov himself who would take the puck and send it flying past Petr Mrazek and into the back of the net. As we’ve always said, the best place to hurt a team is on the scoreboard.
When the buzzer would sound to end the second period of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning would lead the Detroit Red Wings 4-2. Once again, the Tampa Bay Lightning outshot the Detroit Red Wings 12-9 in the second period for a two-period total of 27-16.
Much to the chagrin of the Detroit Red Wings, the third period was all about the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Tampa Bay Lightning would strike two more times before the final buzzer would sound. The first goal would come at the hands of Ondrej Palat, who earned his second point of the night with his 3rd-period goal. The second goal would come from the very same player who struck first blood, Erik Condra.
As we mentioned before, this was a huge win for the Tampa Bay Lightning. After gaining the two points from tonight’s victory, the Tampa Bay Lightning has made the jump and surpassed their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, for first place in the Atlantic Division.
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While the Tampa Bay Lightning made a definitive statement in tonight’s game, the road to the postseason is long, winding, and filled with obstacles. On Friday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning will open the doors to the Amalie Arena to play host to the New York Islanders. With just nine games remaining in the regular season, it’s time to lay everything out on the ice and do everything you can to stay in the race for the postseason.