Lightning stay Perfect at Amalie

Tampa, Fla. – – The Tampa Bay Lightning took the ice on Thursday night looking for the 3rd straight win in a row and defend their perfect home record.  Their opponent from the North, who wear a winged wheel, were hoping for just a win.  The Red Wings, struggling of late, lost their last 5 games.  The Bolts currently lead the league in points at 17.

On the other side of the ice Andreas Athanasiou made his season debut for the Wings.

At the end of the first period, score was tied 1-1.  Nikita Kucherov tied Martin St. Louis season opening point streak for the Tampa Bay Lightning, 11 straight games.

The Red Wings were sluggish defensively, allowing the Bolts to hang on to the puck a little too much.  The Bolts were able to get 14 shots on goal during the first period.

Steven Stamkos scored the go ahead goal at 6:22 in the third period on a power play.  Nikita Kucherov fed the puck over to #91 through traffic.  Stamkos from his sweet spot in the circle drove the puck past Jimmy Howard from on one knee, and it was Hammertime.  Score was now 2-1.

The Bolts are stepping up their defensive game with the help of new comer defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Dan Girardi.

The second period was scoreless, but full of hits, blocked shots and some heavy weight action when Tampa’s  Sergachev squared up with Detroit’s Mantha at almost center ice and they both were sentenced  a seat in the sin bin for that one. 

The Wings had managed to block most of the shots in the second period.  If they weren’t successful at blocking them, Howard was stopping them at the crease.    If you’re going to beat this high powered offense your going to have to step in front of the puck.

At 17:36 in the third Yanni Gourde fed a pass from behind the net to Brayden Point who was right in front of the Red Wings netminder, he put the puck in the back of the net for a 3-1 lead.

The Red Wings answered back at 18:11 with a goal from Frans Nielsen, while Bolts defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was serving a two minute hooking penalty and Wings goalie Jimmy Howard off for the extra skater.

At 18:37 Kucherov found his way to the penalty box for hooking to put the Wings on the Power play.  With an empty net and an extra attacker the Wings would try to tie it up.

The Lightning manage to stave off a late rush from the Red Wings and preserve the 3-2 win.

The Mighty Anaheim Ducks will be visiting the Bay area on Saturday night to take on the Bolts.

1st Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	DET	TB
14:18		Frans Nielsen (3) (Shorthanded) Unassisted	1	0
16:33		Nikita Kucherov (12) (Power Play) Assists: Victor Hedman, Alex Killorn	1	1
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
2:19		Mike Green: 2 Minutes for Slashing
8:57		Victor Hedman: 2 Minutes for Slashing
13:59		Justin Abdelkader: 2 Minutes for Slashing
16:24		2 Minute Bench Penalty for Too Many Men on the Ice (Served by Martin Frk)
2nd Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	DET	TB
No scoring this period			1	1
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
2:53		J.T. Brown: 2 Minutes for Delaying Game – Puck over Glass
6:56		Niklas Kronwall: 2 Minutes for Interference
12:20		Anthony Mantha: 2 Minutes for Roughing
12:20		Mikhail Sergachev: 2 Minutes for Cross checking
13:25		Gustav Nyquist: 2 Minutes for Interference
3rd Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	DET	TB
6:22		Steven Stamkos (4) (Power Play) Assists: Nikita Kucherov, Mikhail Sergachev	1	2
17:04		Brayden Point (5) Assists: Yanni Gourde, Ondrej Palat	1	3
18:11		Frans Nielsen (4) (Power Play) Assists: Gustav Nyquist, Justin Abdelkader	2	3
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
4:52		Frans Nielsen: 2 Minutes for Slashing
10:24		Chris Kunitz: 2 Minutes for Slashing
17:36		Mikhail Sergachev: 2 Minutes for Hooking
18:37		Nikita Kucherov: 2 Minutes for Holding

Player Summary

Detroit Red Wings Time On Ice Faceoffs Player G A +/- SOG MS BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHF TOT PP SH EV FW FL % J. Abdelkader LW 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 2 5 0 2 21 21:03 5:33 0:44 14:46 0 0 00.0 A. Athanasiou C 0 0 -1 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 17 11:38 2:39 0:00 8:59 1 0 100.0 T. Daley D 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 28 22:05 2:00 5:21 14:44 0 0 00.0 J. Ericsson D 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 26 19:50 1:23 5:21 13:06 0 0 00.0 M. Frk RW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 8:20 2:02 0:00 6:18 0 0 00.0 L. Glendening C 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 16 9:59 0:00 4:18 5:41 7 2 77.8 M. Green D 0 0 -1 1 1 2 1 2 2 0 1 30 21:59 1:59 0:06 19:54 0 0 00.0 D. Helm C 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 3 1 0 27 17:35 0:18 5:11 12:06 2 1 66.7 N. Jensen D 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 22 13:48 0:00 4:12 9:36 0 0 00.0 N. Kronwall D 0 0 -1 2 0 1 1 2 3 0 1 22 16:30 3:20 0:06 13:04 0 0 00.0 D. Larkin C 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 26 17:58 3:48 3:23 10:47 5 2 71.4 A. Mantha RW 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 2 1 0 0 18 14:47 2:17 0:09 12:21 0 0 00.0 F. Nielsen C 2 0 1 4 0 0 1 2 2 0 1 25 19:01 1:58 4:33 12:30 2 8 20.0 G. Nyquist C 0 1 -1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 21 17:04 5:02 0:05 11:57 0 0 00.0 X. Ouellet D 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 24 18:05 0:00 4:12 13:53 0 0 00.0 T. Tatar LW 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 20 16:55 3:56 0:00 12:59 0 0 00.0 S. Wilson C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3:28 0:00 0:00 3:28 0 0 00.0 H. Zetterberg LW 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 24 21:07 5:33 0:00 15:34 8 11 42.1 Detroit Red Wings Scratches Player Detail D. Booth Scratched L. Witkowski Scratched D. Dekeyser Lower Body Injury Tampa Bay Lightning Time On Ice Faceoffs Player G A +/- SOG MS BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHF TOT PP SH EV FW FL % J. Brown RW 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 14 11:05 0:13 0:08 10:44 4 3 57.1 R. Callahan RW 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 16 11:24 0:13 0:38 10:33 0 0 00.0 B. Coburn D 0 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 17 13:01 0:00 3:04 9:57 0 0 00.0 J. Dotchin D 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 13 13:03 0:00 0:12 12:51 0 0 00.0 D. Girardi D 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 1 18 11:50 0:00 2:43 9:07 0 0 00.0 Y. Gourde LW 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 20 16:54 4:02 0:32 12:20 1 2 33.3 V. Hedman D 0 1 -1 3 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 23 26:56 4:44 3:52 18:20 0 0 00.0 T. Johnson C 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 16:35 4:22 3:48 8:25 5 8 38.5 A. Killorn C 0 1 -1 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 20 16:34 5:24 3:42 7:28 0 0 00.0 N. Kucherov RW 1 1 -1 7 3 0 1 2 1 1 0 24 20:51 6:02 0:00 14:49 0 0 00.0 C. Kunitz LW 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 0 13 10:19 0:13 0:00 10:06 0 0 00.0 V. Namestnikov C 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 20 18:26 5:04 0:00 13:22 5 2 71.4 O. Palat LW 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 23 18:10 4:14 3:04 10:52 0 1 00.0 B. Point C 1 0 1 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 22:41 3:24 4:04 15:13 7 7 50.0 M. Sergachev D 0 1 0 1 3 0 2 4 1 0 0 20 15:51 4:00 0:00 11:51 0 0 00.0 S. Stamkos C 1 0 -1 4 1 0 0 0 1 1 3 20 17:39 5:12 0:00 12:27 2 2 50.0 A. Stralman D 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 23 22:21 0:13 4:42 17:26 0 0 00.0 A. Sustr D 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 6:55 0:00 1:23 5:32 0 0 00.0 Tampa Bay Lightning Scratches Player Detail S. Koekkoek Scratched C. Paquette Lower Body Injury G. Dumont Scratched

Goaltending Summary

Detroit Red Wings Goaltending Player SA GA Saves SV% TOI PIM J. Howard 38 3 35 .921 57:09 0	Tampa Bay Lightning Goaltending Player SA GA Saves SV% TOI PIM A. Vasilevskiy 31 2 29 .935 59:27 0