The Detroit Red Wings lost on the back half of their road trip to Florida to the Tamp Bay Lightning 4-2.

Brayden Point and the Lightning opened scoring early in the first period on a power play goal after Mo Seider was called for tripping. Nikita Kucherov and Point would combine for the Lightning’s second goal from nearly the same spot between the hash marks to get the Lightning up 2-0 by the end of the period, with John Gibson surrendering two goals on thirteen shots.

Gibson would exit the game with a lower body injury after the first intermission, with Daniil Tarasov coming in to play his second game in as many nights. Anthony Cirelli gave the Lightning a 3-0 lead just under halfway through the with the Lightning leading the Red Wings in shots 18-3 on the score bug.

However, the Red Wings finally seemed to wake up afterwards. Lucas Raymond snapped the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy from the face-off circle just after the halfway mark of the game to make it 3-1 in the second.

The score stayed that way until Jeffery Viel’s holding penalty in the third period got the Red Wings their second power play of the game. J.T. Compher netted his first goal of the month after collecting a pass from Justin Faulk to chip in a shot over Vasilvskiy to get the Red Wings within one at 3-2.

The Red Wings were unable to score again in the third, despite Tampa Bay giving up two more penalties in the period after Compher scored. Detroit pulled Tarasov for the sixth skater late in the game, however, it was the Lightning who would score, with Ryan McDonagh sealing the game with an empty net goal with .6 seconds on the clock.

Takeaways

The Red Wings looked tired after playing their third game in four nights, though the group did wake up in the second half, pointing to their resiliency… Lucas Raymond’s goal has him with a point in each of the last five games, (3G, 4A)… Detroit’s bottom six has seemingly woken up in the last two weeks.

“Obviously, we played really well yesterday. Today, we only about 30 minutes of hockey that was good enough to get points, and that’s too good of a team to spot them a first period like we did tonight.” Compher said.

Key Moment

Lucas Raymond’s goal in the second period was a turning point for the Red Wings. Up until that point, the Lightning led the game in shots 18-4, with Raymond’s goal counting as the Red Wings first shot on goal. Detroit would outshoot Tampa Bay from that point forward, pressuring the Lightning and making the game far more competitive in the second half.

Key Stat

The Lightning are undefeated at home this year, with 10 wins at Benchmark International Arena so far. The Red Wings have been unable to win both games of a Florida road trip since the 2011-12 season.

Up Next

The Detroit Red Wings return home to Little Caesars Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 P.M EST on Detroit SportsNet.