NHL Lightning get rare win in Detroit
DETROIT -- It's a new day for the Tampa Bay Lightning when it comes to playing at Joe Louis Arena.
Right wing Teddy Purcell's goal with 1:09 left in overtime gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
The Lightning had won only one of their previous 15 games in Detroit (1-13-1) and were winless in the last 11 (0-1-10).
"That was in the past. There's a new staff, a new team," Tampa bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We need to win games here if we're going to have any chance of making the playoffs."
The teams are now both in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division.
Left wing Ryan Malone and center Steven Stamkos also scored for Tampa Bay (12-4-0). Ben Bishop stopped 25 shots.
"We stayed with it and it's a good feeling right now," Stamkos said.
Center/left wing Henrik Zetterberg scored both goals for Detroit (9-5-4), which lost is fifth straight at home. Jimmy Howard made 31 saves.
"In the end we got ourselves a point in a game we could have come up with nothing. So good for us," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "What I didn't like was when we lost our composure, when we gave up chances for no reason. Their speed with our inability to move the puck from the back today made us slower. I thought they were a quicker team than we were."
Purcell scored from the slot off a pass from forward Richard Panik after defenseman Kyle Quincey's turnover behind the Red Wings' net.
"Panik made a great play on the forecheck to pressure him and was able to throw it out in front," Purcell said.
This is the way Babcock saw it: "We had the puck and Q (Quincey) was coming around the net and their guy was quicker and stole it from him."
Zetterberg tied the game 2-2 with 4:12 left on a slap shot from the right circle for his second goal of the game and 10th of the season.
Stamkos gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead with 7:10 left in the second period. He beat Howard with a snap shot from the right face-off dot. Stamkos' 14th goal came four seconds after Tampa Bay had killed 5:24 of consecutive Detroit power-play time, including 36 seconds with a two-man advantage.
In all, the Lightning had been at even strength for just 17 seconds of the previous 7:41 when Stamkos extended his goal-scoring streak to six games and points streak to eight.
"That was probably the turning point," Purcell said. "Very difficult to kill six or eight minutes of a power play. And then Stammer gets one shot and scores."
The Red Wings have scored on only one of their last 20 power-play chances.
"It was better tonight than last game. It's something we have to work on. It's really important to take advantage of that," Zetterberg said. "You've got to practice on it, put more time on it. We have to really bear down when we get our chances and score goals."
Zetterberg opened the scoring 3:51 into the game when he intercepted Stamkos' pass in the slot and put a wrist shot past Bishop.
Malone tied it at 1 for the Lightning with 9:49 remaining in the opening period when he put the rebound of his own wrap-around attempt over Howard, who was prone in the crease. It was Malone's second goal this season.
NOTES: It was Tampa Bay C Valtteri Filppula's first game against his former team since signing a five-year, $25 million contract with Tampa Bay in July. Filppula spent his first eight seasons with the Red Wings. ... Detroit C Stephen Weiss didn't play because of a sore groin and RW Johan Franzen missed his fourth game with an upper-body injury/illness. ... Lightning GM Steve Yzerman played his entire 22-season Hall of Fame career with the Red Wings and was the Detroit captain for the last 19 seasons. ... The Red Wings recalled C Luke Glendening and D Xavier Ouellet from their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids earlier on Saturday.
