TAMPA, Fla. — The Red Wings have been a more difficult matchup for the Lightning than their place in the Central Division Standings would indicate.
The Lightning entered Sunday tied for first place in the division, and Detroit lingering in last, but the second game of an Easter weekend back-to-back set was decidedly one-sided.
Tampa Bay lost 5-1 at Amalie Arena on Sunday afternoon as Detroit scored three goals in the final four minutes of the second period.
Goaltender Christopher Gibson made his first NHL start in more than three years and struggled. Sunday’s loss was the Lightning’s fourth in their past six games, and goals continued to elude the team’s top scorers.
Given this team’s offensive balance, and experience, their offensive lapses are peculiar.
Take away three goals from Brayden Point over the previous two games, and four of the Lightning’s past six goals have been provided by the team’s fourth line. Defenseman Victor Hedman, playing his 800th game in a Lightning uniform, scored Tampa Bay’s only goal Sunday.
Give Detroit goaltender Thomas Greiss credit. He spent the weekend adding to the Lightning’s frustration with his fine net play. But regardless of that, the Lightning need better production from their big guns.
Captain Steven Stamkos hasn’t scored a goal in six straight games, and he might have had the best look of the afternoon, shooting a one-timer from the left circle that Griess turned away with a sweeping stick save. Goal-less streaks for other top scorers Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde and Alex Killorn reached five games.
The 28-year-old Gibson was making his first NHL since March 30, 2018, and he entered Sunday having not played much hockey in general. Since the AHL season ended last March, he played just two games for the Lightning’s AHL team in Syracuse, mainly because he spent most of this season practicing on the Lightning’s taxi squad.
Gibson certainly looked rusty, struggling to pick up the puck through traffic and screens in front of the net.
Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin scored the game’s first goal on the power play with 13 seconds left in the first period on a shot from the left circle that Gibson seemed to struggle to pick up through defenseman Ryan McDonagh.
An unlucky bounce hurt Gibson on the second goal — he couldn’t secure a puck that bounced hard off the end boards back toward the goal — and Valtteri Filppula sent it into the back of the net with 3:55 left in the second. Michael Rasmussen’s rebound put the Red Wings up 3-0 just 29 seconds later.
The Red Wings went up 4-0 on Marc Staal’s score with 1:02 left in the second period just after a shot by Point hit the point on the other end.
The Lightning pulled Gibson with six minutes left and Darren Helm scored an empty netter with 5:41 left.
— Notables: Lightning defenseman Ben Thomas, who spent six seasons in the minors, made his NHL debut. ... Detroit’s win was its first at Amalie Arena in more than a decade, snapping a 17-game Lightning win streak against Detroit at home that dated to Feb. 17, 2011.
