Red Wings Rally Falls Short Against Lightning, Lose Key Player to Injury

Detroit overcame a difficult opening period to make things interesting, but Tampa Bay held on to remain unbeaten at home.

Detroit Red Wings center Marco Kasper and Tampa Bay Lightning center Conor Geekie Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Detroit Red Wings showed some fight Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Unfortunately, they waited until the third period to do it.

Playing their second game in as many nights, the Red Wings fell behind by two goals in the opening period and eventually suffered a 4-2 defeat at Benchmark International Arena.

The loss snapped the Red Wings' momentum following Monday's 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers and dropped the club to 7-6-3.

The Lightning improved to 9-3-2, extending their perfect home record to 7-0-0.

Red Wings Slide Early in Game

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) blocks a shot from Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Red Wings' problems began early.

Brayden Point opened the scoring at 7:54 of the first period, converting a power-play opportunity after Moritz Seider was penalized for interference. Nikita Kucherov and Charle-Edouard D'Astous got the assists.

Point struck again at 13:01, finishing another opportunity with Kucherov and Erik Cernak providing the assists.

By the end of the period, the Lightning had outshot the Red Wings 13-2.

It was hardly the start Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan envisioned.

The Red Wings had invested considerable energy in Monday's physical matchup, and facing a rested Tampa Bay team presented another difficult challenge.

Detroit Loses Key Player to Injury

Detroit Red Wings goaltender John Gibson Credit: Pablo Robles-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Making matters worse, the Red Wings lost starting goaltender John Gibson after the opening period as he was ruled out the rest of the game with a lower-body injury.

Gibson stopped 11 of 13 shots he faced before departing.

Daniil Tarasov, who had made 23 saves in Monday's victory over Florida, was forced into action for the second consecutive night.

Despite the unexpected change in goal, the Red Wings began finding their footing in the middle period.

Anthony Cirelli extended Tampa Bay's lead to 3-0 at 8:41 of the second period, finishing a play set up Gage Goncalves and Janis Moser.

The Red Wings finally responded at 10:23 when Lucas Raymond scored off a pass from J.T. Compher, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

The goal provided the Red Wings with some much-needed momentum after spending much of the first period chasing the game.

Detroit continued pressing, but goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Lightning protected their advantage entering the third period.

The Red Wings made things interesting during the final 20 minutes.

Rather than allowing the game to slip away, the Red Wings continued pushing offensively and eventually pulled within a goal thanks to a Compher power-play goal at 5:29.

Suddenly, a game that appeared firmly in Tampa Bay's control had become a one-goal contest.

But Tampa Bay's defense held firm, and Ryan McDonagh scored into the empty net with one second remaining to secure the 4-2 victory.

The defeat was a disappointing conclusion to the Red Wings' two-game trip through Florida.

The more immediate concern may involve Gibson's health. The Red Wings will return home Thursday to face the Vegas Golden Knights.