Following two critical back-to-back wins on home ice against the Ottawa Senators this week, the Tampa Bay Lightning narrowly edged the Detroit Red Wings on the road by a score of 6-3. The Lightning came out flying in the first period and held off a second-half surge by the Red Wings.
Tampa Bay Extends Win Streak Against Detroit
The red-hot Brandon Hagel opened the scoring for the Lightning off a quick shot on the rush. Erik Cernak followed up the momentum with a snipe from the point to chase Detroit’s netminder Alex Lyon out of the net after allowing two goals on two shots.
The Red Wings responded with a tip-in goal by Vladimir Tarasenko on a counterattack in the neutral zone. The veteran winger grabbed his 300th career NHL goal against Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tampa Bay quickly responded with two more insurance goals from Brayden Point and Nick Paul roughly three minutes apart. Then, Patrick Kane closed out an action-packed first period with a power-play marker. Luckily, the game settled down following a six-goal first period.
Sniper Alex DeBrincat scored his 24th goal of the season off a careless giveaway by Darren Raddysh in the second period to cut the Lightning’s lead to one. DeBrincat’s tally would be the lone goal in the second, with Detroit ahead 29-12 on the shot clock after two periods.
Called up for his first-ever NHL game, Lightning rookie Dylan Duke notched his first career goal in the early stages of the third period to put the Lightning ahead by two. Then, Hagel added his second goal and fourth point of the afternoon with an empty net marker assisted by Nikita Kucherov.
The Lightning are back in action on Sunday (Feb. 9) against the Montreal Canadiens. Puck drop for that game is at 1 p.m. On the other hand, the Red Wings close out their hot stretch of games with a loss to the Lightning and won’t play again until after the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
3 Stars of the Game
- Brandon Hagel (2 goals, 2 assists)
- Alex Debrincat (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Erik Cernak (1 goal, 2 assists)
