Red Wings fall to Tampa Bay in shootout

 

By @SKubus – 

DETROIT – Despite fighting back from a 3-1 deficit to force overtime, the Red Wings fell at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday evening by a 4-3 final.

Steven Stamkos scored a pair of goals, Ryan Callahan notched the shootout winner and Ben Bishop stopped all three Detroit shooters to seal the victory. Johan Franzen, Darren Helm and Gustav Nyquist found the back of the net for the Red Wings, who fell to 7-3-5 on the season with the loss.

“We weren’t as smooth from the back end as we normally are, whether it’s because they’re quick, but we didn’t execute from D to forwards like we normally do to play with the pace we normally play with,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “Our penalty kill had to be real good and our power play had to be good.”

Given their noted power play woes this season, Detroit managed to score a pair with the man advantage, something captain Henrik Zetterberg said was refreshing.

“Obviously, it was a really slow start for us on the power play,” Zetterberg said. “They pulled out some goals here and it definitely helps get the momentum if you don’t have it, and if you have it, it helps you keep it.”

Franzen’s early power-play marker 6:14 into the game, the 184th goal of his career, tied him for 18th all-time in Red Wings franchise history with Sid Abel.

With Kyle Quincey in the box minutes later in the frame, Luke Glendening iced the puck on the ensuing face-off, but the puck went all the way up in the netting in the Tampa Bay zone, resulting in a delay-of-game minor. Steven Stamkos tallied his ninth of the season on the ensuing 5-on-3 with one of his patented one-timers.

Babcock said with the way the rule is written, it was evident Glendening was not trying to actually delay the game by clearing it out of play at the opposite end of the ice.

“I can’t believe it’s actually a penalty when you shoot it over the far end,” Babcock said. “The intent of the rule is you’re trying to get a stoppage. We’re not trying to do that when we shoot it over the other end to give them a 5-on-3, but we battled, we got ourselves a point.”

Stamkos continued where he left off in the previous period, notching his 10th of the season with a blazing wrist shot that bounced off the back bar and out. Though initially missed, after the next whistle, it was rightfully confirmed to be a good goal.

Just after Detroit killed off another delay-of-game minor near the six-minute mark of the second stanza, Tyler Johnson scored his fifth of the season shortly after at 6:02 to extend the Bolts’ lead to 3-1.

But at 11:37 of the frame, Darren Helm took a pass from Franzen, bursted down the left wing and let a slap shot go that nicked Bishop’s left shoulder and beat him on the far side. Helm’s first of the season, a power play marker, pulled Detroit to within one, and made it a 3-2 game.

“Helmer’s goal really gave us a boost,” Nyquist said. “That really gave us a lot of energy, and I thought after that goal, we got a little bit more of a jump and we were on their D.”

At 8:49 of the third period, Nyquist fought off three Lightning players–Stamkos included–back-checking him before he cut to the left side and picked the far corner for his eighth of the season at 8:49 in what was a tremendous individual effort to the the game at three aside.

Sixty minutes and an extra overtime session couldn’t decide the teams’ fate. In the shootout, Callahan was the only player to score, as Bishop denied Nyquist, Helm and Tomas Tatar to seal the Lightning victory.

“It’s tough; you want to get that extra point when it comes down to it, but we haven’t been able to do that this year,” Nyquist said of the shootout woes.

The Red Wings are off until Friday when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.