The Detroit Red Wings can take several positives away from Saturday’s game at Tampa Bay.
They battled hard after falling behind by two goals early, preventing the situation from snowballing like is has several times this season. Adam Erne continues to be an unexpected source of offense. Thomas Greiss kept the high-powered Lightning off the scoreboard for the final 50 minutes in putting together back-to-back solid outings during his most difficult season.
But, as players have said multiple times this year, there are no moral victories in hockey, as captain Dylan Larkin sounded off on after his team’s 2-1 loss at Amalie Arena.
“I’m not too satisfied right now,” Larkin said. “We were there. We didn’t have the best start, but we battled back into the game. (Andrei) Vasilevskiy was good, he did what he does. Nothing to be satisfied about.”
“Greisser was great the rest of the game and we responded. We can’t keep coming up short in games like this against teams like that. We got to start getting results. It’s not going to be easy, but we can’t be satisfied with a 2-1 loss.”
The Red Wings (12-22-5) have lost 17 consecutive regular season games in Tampa dating back to Feb. 17, 2011, including 16 in a row in regulation.
The teams meet again Sunday at noon (NBC).
Vasilevskiy (23-5-1) made 25 saves to improve to 12-0-0 lifetime against Detroit and help the Lightning improve to 26-9-2 for a league-leading 54 points.
“In my mind he’s the best in the league and might be by a lot,” Red Wing coach Jeff Blashill said. “You got to find ways to score. One of the ways you can score on any goaltender is to make sure you have great traffic, making sure you’re scoring dirty. He’s going to get his limb on stuff that he sees, that’s the way he is.”
The Red Wings had opportunities to tie it late in the third period, including a couple of chances by Erne. He put his team in that position by scored at the four-minute mark of the third, going backhand to forehand from in tight after being set up by Frans Nielsen.
It was Erne’s career-high eighth goal in 31 games, one more than he scored with the Lightning in 2018-19. Erne is third on the team in goals.
“He plays hard, plays the right way, goes to the right areas at the right times,” Larkin said. “He’s got great timing in front of the net; he’s got a great shot. When things didn’t go his way, he’s always stuck with it. That’s something everyone can learn from. No matter what you’re going through statistically, just play the right way.
“When him, (Luke Glendening and Darren Helm) were out there together, there’s no one working as hard as those three. They play the right way. They’ve been our best line this year. They do that every night and get results. It’s a great lesson for all of us.”
The Lightning struck quickly on goals by Ross Colton (4:07) and Brayden Point (7:26), which Blashill described as preventable. On both plays, the Red Wings did too much puck-watching, allowing Colton and Point to drive to the net with ease and convert.
“I think we can still do a better job of limiting chances,” Blashill said. “It’s a game that was there to be had.”
Greiss made 27 saves in his second solid start in a row but fell to 2-15-5.
“Thomas looks like he’s on top of his game, looks like he did at the beginning of the season,” Blashill said. “He’s worked hard with (goalie coach) Jeff Salajko to kind of get his game back to the level that he’s been at different times in his career and different times this year.”
More: Adam Erne adds offense to his grind game
The Link LonkApril 04, 2021 at 04:27AM
https://www.mlive.com/redwings/2021/04/red-wings-get-no-satisfaction-from-close-loss-to-lightning.html
Red Wings get no satisfaction from close loss to Lightning - MLive.com
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