Jakub Vrana's two goals lead Red Wings past Lightning
Apr 19, 2022
Jakub Vrana tallied twice, including a tiebreaking, breakaway goal in the third period, to help the visiting Detroit Red Wings finally beat Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy in a 4-3 win over the Lightning on Tuesday night.
Oskar Sundqvist and Lucas Raymond also potted goals for the Red Wings (30-37-10, 70 points), who salvaged one game in the four-game season series (1-1-2).
With Alex Nedeljkovic out due to an illness, veteran Red Wings goalie Thomas Greiss stepped into the crease and had a stellar game with 38 saves.
The Red Wings played without leading scorer Dylan Larkin, who underwent season-ending core muscle surgery on Monday.
Ross Colton scored a pair and Nikita Kucherov also found the net for the Lightning (46-22-8, 100 points), who fell to 4-4-2 in April.
Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos produced three assists to tie Martin St. Louis for the franchise record with 953 points. Victor Hedman had an assist for the Lightning, giving him a career-high 73 points.
Entering the game with a 13-0-0 mark against Detroit, Vasilevskiy allowed four goals on 32 shots.
In a scoreless first period with 4:32 remaining, Pius Suter's sharp-angle shot was easily gloved by Vasilevskiy, marking the eight-year veteran netminder's 10,000th career save.
In the second frame, the teams traded tallies 22 seconds apart inside the first five minutes.
On a nifty passing play by the home side, Stamkos sliced through the slot and then dished the puck to Colton for a tally at 3:58.
Detroit soon produced three unanswered goals to take the lead and force Lightning coach Jon Cooper to call a timeout to settle his bench.
Sundqvist started the spurt by sweeping in his seventh goal on a rebound at 4:20, and Vrana made it 2-1 at 6:34 just after Detroit's first power play expired. Raymond's steal and score at 8:17 put his club up 3-1.
After the timeout, Kucherov trimmed the deficit to 3-2 by netting his 19th marker at 9:47 on a power play.
Forty-three seconds into the third, Colton's goal -- off Stamkos' third helper -- leveled the game at 3, but Vrana's steal and breakaway tally at 5:09 restored the one-goal edge.
Tampa Bay pulled Vasilevskiy for the extra attacker late, but the Detroit defense and Greiss preserved the win.
--Field Level Media