After a scoreless first two periods, the Lightning finally hit for two goals in the third period.
The problem was they surrendered three goals to the Detroit Red Wings on home ice, Tuesday night.
Detroit’s Ville Husso made 44 saves for the win. He made 28 saves in the third period.
“This is a team that has been to the [Stanley Cup] Final for the last three years,” Husso said. “So, we knew we had to play at their level. That’s when our structure and all that stuff helps us.”
Detroit improved to 13-7-5.
“I told the guys we needed to find a way to win games and tonight we beat an elite team, so that’s good,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said.
Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point were the only Tampa skaters to have scored in the third period shot barrage.
“We weren’t ready to play, it was clear,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “It was really disappointing. I thought the boys were ready, but it was clearly a lot of bad habits that we’ve had as a team at times during the year that came flooding out.”
Tampa dropped to 15-9-1
The Lightning played a generous game all evening, with 18 giveaways.
“The turnovers … the lack of urgency right down the lineup,” Point said. “I thought the[Anthony] Cirelli line (with Ross Colton and Vladislav Namestnikov) had a good first. Other than that, it was tough and they get one early in the second.”
Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the second period on a strike from Michael Rasmussen.
“I think our plan tonight was to not give them anything and try to take some away from them,” Rasmussen said. “This is how we have to play if we want to beat elite teams.”
Jonatan Berggren made it 2-0 in the third period to Detroit.
“It was pretty hectic at the end. We’ve got some things to work on at 6-on-5,” Rasmussen said. “But we did a good job of sealing it out, and all that matters is getting that win.”
Stamkos cut it to 2-1 with his goal.
Adam Erne scored on an empty net to push the lead back to two for Detroit, 3-1.
“I just shot it down there,” Erne said. “I’d love to say that was all skill, but there was maybe a little luck mixed in.”
Still with the extra skater, the Lightning got one back on the Point goal, but David Perron hit another empty net for the 4-2 final.
“I thought we were good in the third,” Point said. “We had a lot of chances, a lot of puck possession, we started shooting the puck more and creating those shot-scramble situations.”
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Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in the Tampa loss.
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