TAMPA, Fla. — This was how the Detroit Red Wings’ season ended: With a resounding message that they need help scoring.
They put the 82nd game in the books on Thursday at Amalie Arena, falling 5-0 to an opponent trying to regain some mojo going into the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Lightning ended a four-game slide with four goals in the third period.
The Wings (35-37-10) finished with 80 points, six more than last season. They haven’t finished above .500 since the last time they made the playoffs, in 2015-16.
The Wings scored just three goals their last four games of the season. The Lightning scored their third of the game midway through the third game, with Gustav Lindstrom in the box for the second time in three minutes, when Brayden Point picked up his 50th goal. It was a goal-scorer’s goal, not much Ville Husso could do.
The Wings pulled him with five minutes to play, gifting Point his 51st goal with an empty net. Husso was back in the net when Michael Eyssimont was credited for the goal scored with 9.2 seconds on the clock.
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Quality test
Though the Lightning were locked into third place in the Atlantic Division, setting up a first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, most of the big Bolts still suited up. The Wings did avoid facing Andrei Vasilevskiy, who singlehandedly denied them Feb. 25 in Detroit, but Tampa’s first line featured Point, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. Alex Killorn was also in the lineup, as was defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. The Wings had Dylan Larkin back in the lineup to center the first line after he missed Tuesday’s outing with a lower-body injury.
Husso’s challenge
The game marked one last opportunity for Husso to show more of the form he had until a late-season dip. (Alex Nedeljkovic, who started most of the games Husso missed, returned to Detroit Wednesday to be with his wife, who was expecting the couple’s first baby.) Husso faced just one shot the first 19 minutes — and got dinged by Killorn on a wrist shot from the left circle. Husso finished with 27 saves.
Staying with it
Husso had it much worse in the second period, when the Bolts came at him with 14 shots. One of them was pretty egregious, with Brandon Hagel able to get away on a breakaway and shrugging off Dominik Kubalik’s attempts to slow him down to test Husso with a shot from just outside the crease. The Wings maintained a steady attack, with Jonatan Berggren highlighting a standout performance with a hit on Pat Maroon and a shot — one of five through two periods — on Elliott in the waning seconds of the second period.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
Next up: Draft lottery
What: NHL draft lottery.
When: 7 p.m. May 8.
Red Wings’ chances: Only the bottom 11 teams in the league have a chance at the No. 1 pick. Entering Thursday’s game, Wings had a 5% chance to get No. 1 pick.