Lightning hold off Detroit

In Tampa, the Lightning scored twice in the first period on the Detroit Red Wings and then held on for a tight 2-1 win on Saturday.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves to make those first period goals stand up.

“We got a good push and I think that’s why we got the ‘W’ tonight,” Tampa’s Pat Maroon said. “We were on them quick and got rewarded fast. In the second we kind of stalled there. We played with the lead and you’ve got to find ways to move forward when you’ve got the lead. … We had some people feeling the puck tonight so it was good to see.”

Ross Colton and Brayden Point were the Lightning strikers.

“Guys did a good job of blocking shots and [Vasilevskiy] made some big-time saves for us obviously, as usual,” Tampa’s Victor Hedman said. “It was a hard game. [Detroit] has been playing some really good hockey as of late, so we knew it was going to be a battle. Very happy to come out on top.”

Adam Erne scored early in the third period to make the final minutes more interesting.

“[Erne] has done a good job,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “Eight goals on our team right now is a real good statement. He’s scored a lot of dirty goals. He had a few other chances, too, so he’s done a good job.”

Tampa improved to 26-9-2.

“We came out really strong in the first period,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “You get a 2-0 lead, we should be able to shut that down and for the most part we did. But we gave up too many chances in the third. Some were unlucky breaks, but for the most part we were just a little too loose. Part of it is that we were pressing for a third goal and we couldn’t get it, and it was opening us up a little bit.”

Thomas Greiss made 27 saves in the loss.

“Not too satisfied right now … we lost 2-1,” Detroit’s Dylan Larkin said. “We were there. We didn’t have the best start, but we battled back in the game. Vasilevskiy was good. He did what he does. Nothing to be satisfied about, though.

“Just came up short. We can’t keep coming up short in games like this against teams like that. We’ve got to start getting results. It’s not going to be easy, but we can’t be satisfied with a 2-1 loss.”