Inside a jam-packed Amalie Arena on Friday evening, the Tampa Bay Lightning took another important step towards cementing themselves as one of the top two seeds in the Atlantic Division. Entering the night, the visiting Detroit Red Wings sat just six points back of the Bolts, seeking to use Friday’s contest as a means to cut their deficit to four. Unfortunately for Mike Babcock’s group, the Lightning emerged with one of their best performances of the month, handing the Wings a 3-1 defeat and extending their lead in the standings to a near insurmountable eight points.
Much like Monday’s hotly contested battle against Montreal, Friday’s game against Detroit felt an awful lot like a playoff game. Throughout the entire first period, each team relied on a heavily conservative style, neither side wanting to make the first mistake.
In the early goings of the middle frame though, Tampa Bay would break the scoreless tie on defenseman Anton Stralman’s seventh marker of the season. Stralman, who was there to bank home the rebound of a Victor Hedman shot, was the beneficiary of a fantastic individual effort by Ondrej Palat. The 23-year-old forward – returning to action for the first time since being injured last week in Montreal – drove the puck deep into the zone before cycling it back to Hedman for a one-timer that would lead to the goal.
Not to be outdone, the opportunistic Red Wings would answer back quickly with a score of their own. With Hedman relegated to the penalty box for tripping Erik Cole, Detroit’s prolific power-play got their chance to go to work. After a shot from the center point entered a mass of bodies clustered around Ben Bishop’s crease, Red Wings’ forward Tomas Tatar was able to pry the puck loose and slide it into the back of the net.
Just as you’d expect to see in a playoff contest — with the game even at one and time steadily evaporating in the third period — each team focused in on tightening defensive efforts around their net. In the final frame, each team would register just seven total shots on goal.
At the midpoint of the final period, the Wings would open the door for the Bolts with one very costly mistake. After a turnover at the offensive blue line by Detroit’s Gustav Nyqvist, Lightning rookie Jonathan Drouin burst up the ice leading a 3-on-2 charge. Drouin made the dish to Hedman, who then found an open Alex Killorn in the slot for the go-ahead goal.
Detroit stormed the Lightning crease in the final handful of minutes, desperately trying to force the game into overtime. On every occasion, Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop was equal to the task. With twenty-eight seconds left on the clock, Bolts’ captain Steven Stamkos would seal the victory by outskating Niklas Kronwall in a race to the puck before pushing it home into an empty net. With Friday’s empty netter under his belt, Tampa Bay’s franchise cornerstone has officially reached the 40-goal plateau for the fourth time in his illustrious career.
With a matinee contest at Joe Louis Arena on tap for next weekend, the Lightning will have yet another chance to get acquainted with the Red Wings before a potential postseason series. Having posted a perfect 3-0-0 record against Detroit thus far this season, the Bolts will be looking to complete a sweep of their season series. If the Lightning can achieve that feat, it would undoubtedly provide a serious boost to the team’s confidence; should Detroit find its way to Tampa come playoff time.
Interesting, only one #tblightning forward played more than 14 minutes (Stamkos 14:01). Most minutes overall was Stralman (17:24)
— Joe Smith (@TBTimes_JSmith) March 21, 2015
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Steven Stamkos joined Alex Ovechkin as the only active players to post four 40-goal seasons since 2008-09.
Cedric Paquette (upper body), Braydon Coburn (lower body) and Nikita Nesterov (healthy) were the scratches.
The Lightning will host the Boston Bruins Sunday evening.
(Feature Photograph/Getty Images)
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