@jayRecher
The Bolts took care of business to start the weekend.
Now, it's your turn Buccaneers.
In what fans hope to be a victorious weekend for all members of #TeamTampaBay , the Lightning starting things off on a high note with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Friday night at Amalie Arena.
The Bolts will now travel to Tennessee to take on the Predators Monday & Tuesday night and they'll be cheering on the Buccaneers from their hotel rooms in Nashville on Sunday.
The love for the Bucs is real, as evidenced by my tweet below.
The Red Wings came out with a lot more energy after losing 5-1 on Wednesday and opened up the scoring when former Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov beat Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy at the 10:00 mark to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.
The Bolts didn't take too kindly to falling behind and their intensity picked up big time.
That improved play led to a prolonged shift in the offensive zone that culminated in a goal for Patrick Maroon, who wristed a shot past Red Wings netminder Thomas Greiss just under four minutes after Namestnikov's goal. The goal was unassisted but Greiss' inability to stop the shot was aided by a beautiful screen by Alex Killorn in front. That goal was Maroon's first point of the season and ironically enough, going into the game he was the only Tampa Bay skater who hadn't registered a point.
Barclay Goodrow gave the Lightning the lead early in the 2nd period after he took a nice touch-pass from Jan Rutta and fired a slapshot that knuckled through the legs of Greiss and in.
The score stayed that way for much of the remainder of the game until Goodrow scored his 2nd of the night, an empty-netter, with about 28 seconds left on the clock.
Vasilevskiy made 27 saves on 28 shots for his 7th win of the season.
Greiss stopped 29 of the 31 Lightning shots he saw on the evening to fall to 0-7-2 on the year.
*****
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Detroit - Namestnikov - (Zadina, Merrill) - 10:00
- Tampa Bay - Maroon - (Unassisted) - 13:56
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Goodrow - (Rutta, Point) - 17:29
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - ENG - Goodrow - (Coleman, McDonagh) - 19:32
*****
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Detroit - Nemeth - (Holding) - 2:50
- Tampa Bay - Joseph - (Hooking) - 6:29
- Tampa Bay - Hedman - (Slashing) - 7:57
- Detroit - Smith - (Slashing) - 10:28
- Detroit - Larkin - (Tripping) - 19:28
2nd Period
- NONE
3rd Period
- NONE
*****
What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Monday night as they travel to Nashville to take on the Predators. Puck drop is slated for 8pm with the pregame show starting at 7:30pm on NewsRadioWFLA.