TAMPA (620 WDAE) -- Steven Stamkos' first goal of the season broke a 1-1 tie, as the Tampa Bay Lightning finished their five-game homestand to open the regular season with four victories, including a 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Tampa Bay took advantage of an intereference penalty on Niklas Kronwall to gain momentum, and after the penalty was killed off Brayden Point received a pass from Yanni Gourde in the crease and banged the puck home for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
Detroit evened the game in the early in the second period after J.T. Miller took a penalty for tripping, and though Tampa Bay's penalty kill unit kept the Red Wings off the board while shorthanded, a scramble just after the penalty ended saw Andrei Vasilevskiy lose his stick and Luke Glendening rammed the puck home for his first goal of the season.
Stamkos, who had not scored in the first four games of the season, broke the tie with just under five minutes to play in the second, finding a Kucherov pass in the slot and burying it past Jimmy Howard.
Alex Killorn added an empty-net goal with just over a minute to play in the game.
Tampa Bay established a new club record Thursday, going five straight games to open the season without allowing a power-play goal.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- TBL: GOAL - Brayden Point (4). ASSISTS - Gourde, Palat. TIME - 7:33
2nd Period
- DET: GOAL - Luke Glendening (1). ASSISTS - Daley, Abdelkader. TIME - 6:20.
- TBL: GOAL - Steven Stamkos (1). ASSISTS - Kucherov, Sergachev. TIME - 15:19
3rd Period
- TBL: GOAL - Alex Killorn (2). ASSIST - McDonagh. TIME - 18:53
THREE STARS
- TBL G Andfrei Vasilevskiy (29 saves)
- TBL C Steven Stamkos (1 goal, +1, 5 shots on net)
- DET G Jimmy Howard (28 saves)