The Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday scored three goals in the opening 3 minutes, 58 seconds of the second period to take down an Atlantic Division opponent and improve to 25-16-3 this season.
Tampa Bay defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 at AMALIE Arena behind three goals—one apiece from Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov and Mitchell Chaffee—in the opening minutes of the middle frame.
Brayden Point started the offense with his goal 2:02 into the game, and the Lightning answered a Detroit power-play goal with Darren Raddysh’s power-play tally to make it 5-1 late in the second.
Kucherov and Guentzel co-led the Lightning with three points each. Kucherov became the second player in team history to reach 600 career assists, joining captain Victor Hedman.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 39 of 40 shots for his 20th win of the season.
The Lightning visit another division opponent, the Toronto Maple Leafs, on Monday at Scotiabank Arena.
Scoring summary
First period
TBL 1, DET 0
2:02 Brayden Point (27) - Emil Lilleberg, Nick Perbix
Tampa Bay’s leading goal scorer needed just over two minutes to open the scoring on Saturday, tapping in a loose puck at the left post after Emil Lilleberg’s shot bounced to him off the end wall.
Shots on goal: DET 13, TBL 6
Second period
TBL 2, DET 0
00:16 Jake Guentzel (23) - Nikita Kucherov, Darren Raddysh - PP
Tampa Bay’s power play doubled the home team’s lead 16 seconds into the second period. Forward Jake Guentzel found himself alone in front of the Detroit net and buried the puck through the leg pads of Detroit goalie Cam Talbot.
TBL 3, DET 0
1:50 Kucherov (21) - Victor Hedman (29), Guentzel
Kucherov danced to the right faceoff dot, pulled a Detroit defender toward him and then cut to the right center hashmark before beating Talbot with a top-shelf shot.
TBL 4, DET 0
3:58 Mitchell Chaffee (8) - Cam Atkinson
Tampa Bay added its third goal of the second period less than four minutes into the middle frame. Forward Cam Atkinson forced a turnover behind the Detroit net and fed Chaffee in front, who sent the puck into the top right corner.
TBL 4, DET 1
14:12 Lucas Raymond (19) - Patrick Kane, Moritz Seider - PP
The Red Wings got on the scoreboard with a power-play one-timer from Lucas Raymond late in period two.
TBL 5, DET 1
15:06 Raddysh (2) - Kucherov, Guentzel - PP
Raddysh’s power-play goal from the top of the setup extended the Lightning lead on a play in which Kucherov earned his 600th NHL assist.
Shots on goal: DET 12, TBL 10
Third period
None.
Total shots: DET 40, TBL 22
