RECAP: Red Wings drop third consecutive game with 6-3 loss to Lightning

DETROIT -- In the first game of their weekend back-to-back set against a pair of Atlantic Division opponents, the Detroit Red Wings showed fight but ultimately lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-3, at Little Caesars Arena on Friday afternoon.

“Right now, we’re finding ourselves in holes,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “Even when we were winning games, we were going down one or two early. Right now, we’re just a little fragile and mistakes seem to be compounding. We’re just finding ourselves down early in games and that’s the way it’s going right now. There is a blueprint for how we play well. You saw it for parts tonight. In this League, against a team like that, you got to show what you’re made of all 60 minutes.”

Goalie John Gibson made 22 saves for the Red Wings (13-11-1; 27 points), who dropped their third consecutive game. Helping the Lightning (15-7-2; 32 points) stretch their winning streak to six straight contests, netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots.

“There’s definitely some frustration throughout the room,” J.T. Compher said. “Guys are working hard, but right now, it doesn’t feel like enough. We need to do a better job of cleaning up a lot of different areas of our game. We need to keep the puck out of our net. That’s, plain and simple, the problem. It’s every guy – goalies, D, forwards – in every situation. It’s just the mindset and commitment.”

Compher’s fourth goal of the season broke the ice for the Red Wings 11:29 into the first period. Michael Rasmussen won a puck battle along the right wall in the Lightning’s zone and pushed it to the 30-year-old forward, who scored on a snap shot from the middle of the right face-off circle for a 1-0 lead.

“I thought we created opportunities by forechecking and dumping the puck in,” Compher said. “Mike made an unbelievable play on my goal, but it’s just simple. We talked about forechecking tonight, and when our line did that tonight we had some success.”

After drawing a slashing call on Alex DeBrincat not long after Compher’s game-opening goal, Tampa Bay capitalized and tied things up on the power play when Darren Raddysh blasted a slap shot from the point to make it 1-1 at 17:07 of the first period.

The Lightning struck twice within the first four minutes of the second period, quickly going ahead 3-1. The first goal came 34 seconds in when Gage Goncalves stole the puck in the slot and scored, then Yanni Gourde jammed one home up close at 3:01.

“The puck is on our stick and then it’s in the back of the net,” Larkin said. “Why, you know? It’s just the way it’s going. You got to have a next-shift mentality.”

Getting one right back for Detroit, Rasmussen scored 12 seconds later after a shot from Compher rang off the post before the 26-year-old forward backhanded it in tight to make it 3-2. For Rasmussen, it marked his third goal of the campaign.

Gourde struck again before the second intermission, this time wiring a shot into the back of the net while Gibson was out of position at 16:09 after Zemgus Girgensons was pushed into Detroit’s 32-year-old netminder.

Making it a one-goal game once more, Larkin notched his team-leading 14th of the season – a snap shot from the left face-off circle that went between the legs of Vasilevskiy --- to pull the Red Wings within 4-3 at 18:26 of the second period. The assists went to Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson.

But with the action at 4-on-4, Jake Guentzel tipped in a Raddysh point shot to restore Tampa Bay’s two-goal lead to 5-3 at 12:37 of the third period.

Brandon Hagel wrapped up the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:13 for the 6-3 final.

“Right now, we want it so bad,” Larkin said. “I can tell you that. We’re listening to what we’re being told to do and trying to do it. We’re almost trying too hard. We’re not playing the game. When things aren’t going well, we just kind of sag and it seems like the things that we talk about just keep happening. I don’t have a reason, but we’re trying to clean up those mistakes.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will visit the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

Larkin on the challenges Detroit has been trying to overcome defensively as of late

“Todd talked a lot about net play the last few days, and they get a couple there in front of our net,” Larkin said. “Most of their goals were chaos around the crease, late plays, whacking and winning battles in our net front. It’s frustrating when we talk about it a lot and it just keeps happening.”

Compher on the blueprint they need to be successful and how to replicate that

“The consistency is not there. The good teams do it every single night. Even if we don’t get the result, it’s the same effort and commitment to defend. We need more of that.”