In Detroit, the Red Wings hammered out a 6-4 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. 
“We want to win games and get points, so it is great to get three points from two games against the Stanley Cup champions,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “I don’t think our guys pay too much attention to those streaks from year to year. We haven’t been good enough for a while now, so we have poor records against a lot of teams.”
Jonathan Bernier made 40 saves to get the win in a rare outburst of offensive support.
“There’s not much to say about [Bernier]. He’s our best player,” Detroit’s Troy Stecher said. “He gives us a chance to win every night.”
Stecher and Dylan Larkin scored to give the Wings a 2-1 lead.
“Obviously, it felt great to be back out there and even better to get that goal,” Stecher said. “It’s huge to be able to play with the lead against that team.”
Steven Stamkos tied the game at 2-2 before the Red Wings’ offense opened a bit.
“I don’t think the score reflected the game, but you will have nights like that during the season,” Stamkos said. “Give them credit. They came out hungry and their goaltender played very well.”
Anthony Mantha and Luke Glendening gave the Red Wings a 4-2 lead.
Robby Fabbri pushed the lead out to 5-2 before the Bolts replied with two goals to make the final minutes a little more tense.
“We gifted them too many chances and they were extremely efficient,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said.
Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev scored for the Lightning.
“We didn’t score on our chances, and they scored on almost every chance they had,” Palat said. “I don’t think we played that bad, and we are still going home with nine points out of 12 on this road trip.”
Vladislav Namestnikov ice it for the Red Wings with an empty-net goal.
“Tuesday, I thought we played well enough to win the game and then we lost in overtime,” Blashill said. “Tonight, I didn’t think we played a very smart game, but our goaltender was the best player on the ice. That’s how the NHL works.”
Curtis McElhinney made 17 saves in the loss.
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