Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings secured their fourth consecutive win with a 2-1 overtime victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesars Arena on Friday night. This marks another close game for Detroit since the start of the 2025-26 NHL season.

“We’ve seen a little bit of everything, to tell you the truth,” said Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan. “We’ve seen our team play really well when we’re completely in charge. We’ve seen a goaltender steal a game in Toronto. We’ve seen a fairly well-played game coming back here. Tonight, we kind of saw two games in one. Tonight specifically, I thought it was a good start. I thought our power play allowed them to get back in the game. Our power play has to score or establish momentum, and it didn’t do either of that…There are still opportunities for us to have more poise.”

Goaltender John Gibson made 31 saves on 32 shots for his first win as a Red Wing, while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 shots for Tampa Bay.

“The guys did a really good job tonight in front of me,” Gibson said. “Blocking shots and clearing the shooting lanes, so it helped me out. It was a good team win.”

Detroit prevented Tampa Bay from registering a shot on goal for over 12 minutes at the start of the first period, including during a Lightning power play. Axel Sandin-Pellikka scored his first NHL goal at 13:02 of the opening period, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead.

Not only did captain Dylan Larkin and Mason Appleton tally assists on Sandin-Pellikka’s goal, but they also joined teammates celebrating his milestone on the ice.

“I wasn’t sure if it hit Appleton before,” said Sandin-Pellikka, who became the third-youngest defenseman in franchise history to score his first NHL goal in the past 35 years. “He had to point at me. As soon as he gave me the point, I started just screaming. I don’t really know what happened, but it was unbelievable.”

Detroit’s penalty kill was effective throughout the game, stopping all three Tampa Bay power plays and maintaining an early season penalty kill rate above 90 percent.

“Confidence goes a long way,” McLellan said about his club’s penalty kill through its first five games. “Believing that we can get things done. Some structure adjustments, but just some reads. I think we’re able to stay on the fresh side, if you will, a lot more than the tired side. That’s made a difference. But lots of hockey left and usually your goaltender is your best killer. We need that to continue.”

Tampa Bay tied the score late in regulation to force overtime, but Larkin scored his 10th career NHL overtime goal at 3:36 into extra time after receiving a pass from J.T. Compher.

“It was a nice move,” Gibson said about Larkin’s overtime winner. “You trust guys like that, who have the offensive capability that get that 1-on-1 breakaway chance that they’re going to score, and he did.”

Detroit will close its three-game homestand Sunday afternoon against Edmonton.

McLellan also commented on Detroit’s rookie trio: “I don’t know what to say anymore. We talk so much about these guys. I’m working the forwards, Yawns is working the back end and Alex Tanguay is in between. We’re talking to each other and we just feel like we can keep playing them. They’re not often at the scene of the crime for mistakes. Yeah, they make some. They’re hungry and effective right now. We’ll keep playing them.”

Gibson reflected on Tampa Bay’s late push: “You just got to stay in it. Obviously, sometimes it’s a little tough. But like I said, when they did have the push, the guys did a good job clearing the net front and blocking shots. There were a number of forwards and D that had a bunch of big blocks tonight, so it was a team effort.”

Sandin-Pellikka spoke about scoring his first career goal: “Unbelievable. I think this part is also a little bit of a dream come true, also scoring a goal. It’s another step, but I’m very happy. There were some good plays before that and grateful to get the win.”