TAMPA, Fla. — A sluggish start cost the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay built a 3-0 lead and held on for a 4-2 win, and Detroit lost starting goalie John Gibson to a lower-body injury along the way.
Brayden Point did the early damage with two first-period goals, the first on a power play at 7:54 and the second at 13:01, both set up by Nikita Kucherov. Gibson gave up those two goals on 13 shots and did not return for the second period. Daniil Tarasov came on in relief and stopped 12 shots.
Anthony Cirelli pushed the lead to three at 8:41 of the second before Detroit started to push back. Lucas Raymond scored at 10:23 on a give-and-go with J.T. Compher, and Compher pulled Detroit within one on the man advantage 5:29 into the third. Ryan McDonagh sealed it with an empty-net goal with one second left. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 19 saves for the Lightning.
Detroit coach Todd McLellan was blunt after the game, saying his team was clearly outplayed early but found a way to make it close. He had no update on Gibson and said Tarasov is likely to see more starts.
The Red Wings fell to 7-6-3 a night after beating Florida 5-3 on Monday. Compher finished with a goal and an assist, and Raymond has 12 points, six goals and six assists, over his last eight games. Tampa Bay improved to 9-3-2 and is unbeaten at home at 7-0-0.
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