NHL Update: Detroit Red Wings defeat Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2
In a battle between division leaders, Pavel Datsyuk lit the lamp twice to help Detroit Red Wings squeak out 6-2 victory over Tampa Bay Lightning at St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday night.
Daniel Cleary had a goal and two assists for Detroit, which has won three straight and seven of eleven games. Niklas Kronwall, Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm also tallied goals for Victors. Goaltender Jimmy Howard made 38 saves of 40 shots in the win.
There was a large group of Detroit fans among the sell-out crowd of 20,849 for the matchup of first-place clubs.
"That might have been the biggest I've ever seen in all the years I've been here," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "On the road we've had some unbelievable crowds, but tonight, that was a good crowd."
Victor Hedman and Steve Downie each scored a goal for Southeast Division-leading Tampa Bay, which fell to 5-3-1 on its NHL record-tying 12-game home stand.
"I thought [Howard] played really well. We had some great quality chances and some good shots, but didn't make it happen," said Lightning head coach Guy Boucher.
Tampa Bay goalie Dwayne Roloson gave up all six goals on 31 shots in the loss.
At 6:40 mark of the first period, Cleary gave Detroit a 1-0 lead on a deflection of Nicklas Lidstorm’s shot during a power play.
With five minutes left in the first stanza, Datsyuk put Red Wings up 2-0. After losing the puck to Cleary, he backhanded home a rebound. Datsyuk has 8 goals and 16 points in his previous 13 contests.
Howard saver all six shots he faced, during a four-minute Lightning power play midway through the first period.
At 11:51 mark of the middle stanza, Tampa Bay cut the deficit to 2-1 when Hedman hit a shot on goal that tipped off Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson.
Lightning tied the game at 2-2 with less than six minutes left in the second period when Steven Stamkos fanned on his one-timer, but the disc went right to Downie who netted it past goalie Howard.
After wasting a two-goal edge, Red Wings responded with two goals in a 1:26 span to go up 4-2.
Detroit regained its lead on a power play at 16:34 when Niklas Kronwall hit a wrist shot from the right point that caromed in off Hedman.
With two minutes left, Justin Abdelkader received the puck from Tomas Holmstrom and hit an open net from the left circle.
"They took the play over for about 10 minutes, got two quick ones," Cleary said. "I thought our power play [was] good tonight and got us that lead and we just kept coming."
At 11:49 mark of the third stanza, Red Wings enhanced their lead to 5-2 when Datsyuk scored his second goal. Darren Helm then added a breakaway goal with less than two minutes left.
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