The Detroit Red Wings got back in the win column last night with a 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lighting. A much-needed win for the Wings that snapped their six-game losing streak. The win also got them back on track as they’ve now claimed three points in the last two games against good teams.
The Red Wings seem to have found a way to beat the Lightning as they are now 2-0-0 against them this season while averaging five and a half goals against them. So, the question begs, was last night the spark they needed?
Red Wings Scoring Outburst
The Red Wings for the second time this season scored seven goals, the other time being against the San Jose Sharks on November 17th which sparked a four-game win streak. Would things have been different if it were Andrei Vasilevskiy in net? Maybe, but it was Brian Elliott, and the Red Wings found a way to break out. Five of the goals scored last night came from the top line as Dylan Larkin and Michael Rasmussen scored two goals each and David Perron tallied another. Rasmussen and Perron have become two of the hottest players on the team, Rasmussen has five points in the last two games and Perron has five points in the last three.
Things did get a little scary last night as Dylan Larkin skated off the ice and went right down the tunnel, but he returned for the third period, and I think like myself a lot of Red Wings fans breathed a huge sigh of relief. The next big step the Wings need, which won them a bunch of games a few weeks back, is to get secondary scoring. They did get a goal from the fourth line when Elmer Soderblom scored, Soderblom also has three points in the last three games. Detroit even got a goal from a defenseman as Olli Maatta found the back of the net to tie the game in the first period, Maatta has also gotten hot recording five points in the last five games.
Now the Wings will head into the Christmas break on a positive note with the NHL announcing today that their game against Ottawa that was set for tomorrow has been postponed to February 27th. This extra time will allow players to get healthy, and who knows maybe we see Vrana back when they return. Detroit will return against the Pittsburgh Penguins next Wednesday and hopefully, this scoring output from the Lightning game could be the spark needed to get this team back in the right direction and get a little momentum going with such a tough schedule coming up.
