Tampa powers past Red Wings, 3-1

In Tampa, the Lightning struck twice off the power play in the third period in a 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.“It’s weird because we haven’t done that great on the front ends, but we’ve really saved the back to back on the back end, which isn’t the usual,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It was good to turn the page on last night. I thought we did an admirable job. The guys played hard.”

Mikhail Sergachev and Steven Stamkos were the third period strikers for Tampa.

Brian Elliott made 22 saves in the Lightning win.

“I don’t think we, to a man, put out the effort that we wanted to [against the Penguins],” Elliott said. “Winning one at home before you go on the road for a while is a good feeling. Sometimes all you need to get on another little run is that good feeling when you come off the ice.”

Tampa moved to 36-12-6.

“Our attempts were in the 30s for the period and it hasn’t been that way because of the lack of O-zone time,” Tampa Bay’s Ryan McDonagh said. “It didn’t result in goals tonight, but it put us on the power play and we found a way there. We just kind of wore them down in the zone.”

Robby Fabbri was the Red Wings’ lone goal scorer.

“I thought we came out and we were the better team in the first (period),” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought they were the better team in the second. I thought the third was kind of back and forth. They scored twice on the power play when it mattered and we didn’t. That was the difference in the game.”

Brayden Point also scored for Tampa, his goal gave them a 1-0 lead in the middle frame.

The Red Wings dropped to 24-25-6.

“We had some chances, a lot of 2-on-1’s tonight,” Detroit’s Dylan Larkin said. “We’ve got to be a little more selfish and shoot the puck. It’s frustrating right now. It’s a tough feeling, but we have to bounce back because we’ve got [the Florida Panthers] tomorrow and they’re equally as dangerous.”

Fabbri tied it sending the game to the third knotted at 1-1.

“They get two power-play goals tonight, we get none,” Larkin said. “That’s kind of the story of the game.”