Tampa Bay Lightning battle back to defeat the Detroit Red Wings

The Tampa Bay Lightning battle back in the third period to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 at the Little Caesars Arena and kick off their back-to-back series on the right skate.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has been pretty successful thus far this season, going 4-1-0 through their first five games. At this point, the Lightning’s only recorded loss came against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 7 in Sunrise. Things are definitely looking up for the Bolts, but tonight they would embark on a new challenge.

Tonight, the Lightning made their way to the brand new Little Caesars Arena in Motown where they kicked off their second back-to-back series of the season with a battle against captain Henrik Zetterberg and the Detroit Red Wings. There is no love lost between these two teams; so needless to say, fans were in for an interesting night of hockey.

There was one looming question coming into tonight’s contest. Lightning forward Brayden Point missed practice this morning due to “body maintenance” and was considered a game-time decision for tonight’s game. Would Point make his way into the lineup against the Red Wings? Thankfully, the answer was yes.

Tampa Bay Lightning

As most Lightning fans expected, the game was on fire from the moment the puck dropped. Both teams were aggressive with the puck and eager to get their team on the board first. Unfortunately for the Lightning, there were quite a few bumps along the way. Of course, by bumps we mean penalties.

Just 1:53 into the first period, the Red Wings would get their first crack at the Power Play as Alex Killorn was sent to the box for two minutes for Interference against former Lightning defenseman Luke Witkowski. The Red Wings would get a second crack at the Power Play before the halfway point in the period.

The second Lightning Penalty Kill would come courtesy of Chris Kunitz, who would find himself with a one-way ticket to the sin bin for Cross Checking Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader. The good news here is the Lightning would not only kill off both penalties, but they would actually make some magic out of them.

During the Kunitz penalty, the Red Wings would play the puck in their offensive zone. Even on his back, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman is able to be a pest to his opponent. The puck would come loose and all of a sudden the Lightning’s fortunes took a very serious turn.

Lightning forward Tyler Johnson went flying down the ice with the puck on his stick. Much like the logo on his jersey, Johnson took off like a bolt and made his way to the front of the Red Wings net. Without missing a beat, Johnson would fire the puck and beat Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard to score the Lightning’s first shorthanded goal of the season.

Just when the Red Wings thought their special teams woes were over, the Lightning decided to be a thorn in their side once again. This time, it would be the Lightning who would be on the Power Play as Red Wings forward Martin Frk was sent off for Holding Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman.

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Nikita Kucherov would prove he is destined for greatness as he scores his 6^th goal in six games with a shot from the point that simply flew past Jimmy Howard on the glove side and into the back of the net. This would give the Lightning an early 2-0 lead over the Red Wings.

Unfortunately for the Tampa Bay Lightning, all good things must come to an end eventually. The aforementioned “eventually” turned out to be the second period for the Bolts. It all started around the two-minute mark in the period when the Red Wings would score a goal. The thing is, it wasn’t actually a goal, but then it was. Allow us to explain.

Originally, the Red Wings believed they had scored a goal. However, after a challenge from Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper, the goal would be taken away from the Wings thanks to Goaltender Interference. At the same time, Victor Hedman would be called to the carpet for Hooking Abdelkader while he was on a breakaway. This resulted in a Penalty Shot for Abdelkader.

Regrettably, the moment a penalty shot was called, a good portion of the Bolts Nation cringed. We honestly hate being this person, but we saw the end result of this situation coming a million miles away.

So…let’s recap this situation here.

• Red Wings Goal
• Lightning Challenge
•  No Goal
•  Hedman Penalty
•  No Penalty
•  Penalty Shot
•  Red Wings Goal

With less than four minutes left in the period, the Red Wings would bring the fight to the Lightning once again. Red Wings defenseman Mike Green would pick up a rebound and beat Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy on the glove side to tie the game up for the Wings.

As much as we would love to deny this, the Tampa Bay Lightning had completely surrendered their momentum from the first over the course of the second period of play. If the Lightning had any intentions of bringing home a victory in Motown tonight, they would have to wrestle control of the game from the Red Wings in the third.

Never fear, Nikita Kucherov was here!! The Lightning were putting a pretty significant amount of pressure on Howard in the opening minutes of the third period. Kucherov was crossing in front of the net and took a wild swing at the puck as it crossed in front of him. He got his stick on it just enough to tap it past Howard and into the back of the net, retaking the lead for the Bolts.

Most Lightning fans are well aware of Kucherov’s theatrics this season. Kucherov’ 2^nd goal of the night gave him a total of seven goals in six games. The 24-year-old winger finds himself in some pretty good company among the record holders for goals within six games, one of which is his General Manager, Steve Yzerman.

The remainder of the third period was no cake walk for the Bolts. There was just under six minutes left in the third when the Lightning would head to the Penalty Kill for the sixth time tonight. This time, it would be at the hands of Alex Killorn, who was sent to the box for closing his hand over the puck.

Of course, the referees failed to consider the fact Killorn was dumped on the ice, but it is what it is. As much as we would love to scream and throw things at the refs, it won’t change anything. All the Lightning can do is adapt and overcome. Thankfully for Lightning fans, this is exactly what the Bolts did.

The Lightning was able to kill of the penalty just in time for the Red Wings to pull Howard from between the pipes in order to get an extra attacker on the ice. Bad news for those of you in Motown…it simply wasn’t meant to be tonight. The Bolts would hold on to defeat the Red Wings 3-2 and extend their current win streak to four.

Speaking of win streaks, tonight’s victory marks the eighth straight time the Lightning have defeated the Red Wings. This streak dates all the way back to February 3, 2016 when the Lightning defeated the Red Wings 3-1 in Tampa. We’ll take a record like this any day of the week.

One of the biggest keys to tonight’s victory over the Red Wings is the Lightning’s special teams. The Lightning was able to kill all six penalties called against them tonight. At the same time, the Bolts were able to score both a Shorthanded and a Power Play goal in the first 20 minutes of play. Needless to say, this is a far cry from the Special Teams woes the Lightning has suffered in the past.

Another player who had a pretty good night tonight is Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasy faced a total of 31 shots tonight, only allowing two of them to pierce his defenses and make their way into the back of the net. While we’re sure Vasy would love to have that penalty shot back, he did have some amazing saves tonight and helped the Lightning bring home an important victory.

The bad news is, the Lightning don’t have a whole lot of time to celebrate their victory. As soon as the Lightning takes their gear off, they’ll be making their way to the Prudential Center to take on the New Jersey Devils to do it all over again tomorrow night.

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Will Lightning fans finally see the 2017-18 debut of Lightning goaltender Peter Budaj or will Andrei Vasilevskiy get his seventh-straight start of the season? We’ll have to wait and see. Until then, rest easy knowing the Tampa Bay Lightning added yet another victory to their record and have started this season off in style.