Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings secured a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesars Arena, avenging their previous loss to the same team. Goalie Cam Talbot played a pivotal role in the win, stopping 28 shots for his second shutout of the season and the 33rd of his NHL career. "It proves we can win games any way we need to right now," Talbot said. The victory was crucial for Detroit as it kept them competitive in the Eastern Conference standings.

Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan praised his team's defensive efforts and highlighted Talbot's performance: "The penalty kill came up big and your goaltender has to be one of your better players most nights, and I thought [Talbot] was that tonight."

Marco Kasper opened the scoring with his seventh goal of the season, assisted by J.T. Compher and Christian Fischer. Kasper noted, "Confidence always plays a big part, but we’ve been winning games." Michael Rasmussen added an empty-net goal late in the third period after Andrei Vasilevskiy was pulled from Tampa Bay's net.

Rasmussen was injured during a play when he was tripped by Nikita Kucherov while heading towards an empty net. Coach McLellan commented on Rasmussen's condition: "[Rasmussen] was getting looked at in the doctor’s office. I think things are okay from what I’ve been told so far."

Albert Johansson registered an assist on Rasmussen's goal and achieved personal bests in blocks and time on ice. Talbot commended his teammates' defensive efforts: "We blocked a lot of shots from the top, did a great job boxing out and let me see most of the pucks tonight."

Looking ahead, Detroit aims to continue their winning streak against Colorado Avalanche at home.

McLellan reflected on choosing Talbot for this game: “We were debating on who we were going to start... Just had a gut feeling this is what he wanted, and he got the opportunity and took advantage of it.”

Talbot credited recent improvements to coaching changes: “First and foremost, I think our PK has stepped up pretty big... Probably got us the win, especially against a power play like that.”

Kasper discussed facing skilled opponents like Kucherov: “You got to know who you play against out there... Just don’t give him too much time because then he’s going to make plays around you.”