TAMPA, Fla. _ The Detroit Red Wings had focused on getting more third-period scoring, on being harder to play against.
They flubbed doing so in the season opener, albeit against an opponent widely regarded as a Stanley Cup favorite. Newcomers Thomas Vanek and Frans Nielsen each had multiple-point games, but the Wings fell Thursday at Amalie Arena, 6-4, to the Tampa Bay Lightning after giving up four straight goals.
The Atlantic Division rivals let little go unsaid, with tempers flaring in the second period and the Lightning surging in the third.
Tyler Johnson tipped a puck five-hole on Petr Mrazek with 11 minutes left in regulation, Danny DeKeyser scored on a fluky bounce at 17:55 but Valtteri Filppula found an empty net for the final goal at 18:39, sullying what had been a good offensive start from the Wings. Vanek scored twice in the first period, and Nielsen assisted on Vanek's power-play goal and scored an even-strength goal.
Vanek had his first goal within four minutes, after Luke Glendening had drawn a penalty. Nielsen sent the puck on net, and Vanek kept batting at the puck, eventually sending a wrist shot behind Ben Bishop.
The penalty killers came on duty half a minute later, including a 13-second 5-on-3 stretch after Steve Ott followed DeKeyser into the box. Mrazek made one stop, just before DeKeyser rejoined the group. Mrazek twice snatched pucks out of the air during the remainder of the kill.
Gustav Nyquist was deep in Tampa Bay's zone when he pounced on the puck and fed Vanek for a 2-0 lead at 8:26. Tomas Tatar began the second period by whacking at the puck down low, and Brendan Smith took a swipe at the rebound. Nikita Kucherov took off on a breakaway, but ended up shooting wide.
Jonathan Drouin converted while Mike Green was in the penalty box, cutting Detroit's lead to 2-1 at 7:23.
A turnover by former Wing Filppula _ who last wore the No. 51 now donned by Nielsen _ enabled Nielsen to pounce on a loose puck to the right of Bishop, restoring the Wings' two-goal lead at 8:18. Mrazek followed up soon after with a pad save on Steven Stamkos as he came down the right side. Cedric Paquette snuck in a goal from the far left at 13:05.
Smith and Andrej Sustr went off for fighting at 14:30 after a scrum in front of Mrazek led to gloves coming off.
Brian Boyle scored on a two-on-one at 3:17 of the third period, feeding the Lightning momentum. The Wings squandered their second power play, and Alex Killorn tipped Droiun's shot with 3:10 left in regulation to punctuate the rally.
