RECAP: ‘Happy flight’ home after Red Wings finish season-long five-game road trip with 4-2 win over Lightning
Perron scores go-ahead goal late in third period to help Detroit sweep season series against Tampa Bay
TAMPA BAY — When the Detroit Red Wings wake up on Tuesday morning, their focus will shift to preparing for Friday’s game against the New York Rangers at Little Caesars Arena.
But until then, the Red Wings are going to enjoy every part of that winning feeling they recaptured by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2, at AMALIE Arena on Monday night.
“It’s going to be a happy flight, something we haven’t had recently, which is awesome,” said David Perron, who scored the go-ahead goal with 2:40 remaining in the third period. “Tomorrow is a day off. Hopefully we get through all that illness stuff. We’ve been good at home taking care of matchups. I think everyone is firing on all cylinders in our team game right now. We got to keep pushing.”
Goalie Alex Lyon made 34 saves to earn his first win since Feb. 27 for the Red Wings (37-30-8; 82 points), who snapped a four-game winless streak. Netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves for the Lightning (41-26-7; 89 points), who had their nine-game point streak halted.
With the win, Detroit also moved into a tie with the Washington Capitals (36-27-10; 82 points), who have two games in hand, for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.
“We haven’t been finding ways to get two full points on the road, but our guys are battling,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “Tonight was a perfect example. Just really proud of the group. A lot of adversity all year. A lot of ups and downs, and we’ve just kept in the fight. We got two full points tonight. That’s going to be a really good road trip.”
