In Detroit, Mikhail Sergachev‘s second period goal was the difference as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Red Wings, 2-1, in a Sunday matinee. 
The Lightning are 25-0-0 this campaign when leading heading into the third period.
“That’s a stat that shows the growth of our team,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “To win consistently, you have to learn how to close out games, and we’ve been finding ways to do it.”
Christopher Gibson made 22 saves to get the win for the Bolts.
“This has been a long time coming, so it is exciting, for sure,” Gibson said. “The guys played great in front of me, so all the credit goes to them.”
Filip Zadina scored for the Red Wings to make the score 2-1 in the middle frame.
“We’ve had too many games like this, where the goaltending is good, but we don’t score,” Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said. “Tonight, [Bernier] was very good, but the power play didn’t score when we needed them to get us something.”
Blake Coleman scored in the first period to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
“We know we have what it takes to win championships in this room,” Coleman said. “We’re not the exact same team as last year, but the guys that were here know what it takes and can pull from that experience.”
Tampa crawled back into a second place tie with the Florida Panthers at73 points each. They are both two points back of first place Carolina Hurricanes.
Detroit dropped to 18-27-9.
“We turned the puck over really early, and then we chased [Goodrow] behind the net and left [Coleman] wide open in front,” Blashill said. “We can’t make that kind of mistake.”
Jonathan Bernier made 40 saves in the loss.
“That’s a very good team, but we had the game in our hands with that long 5-on-3,” Bernier said. “We just didn’t take advantage.”
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