Steven Stamkos scored his first goal of the season, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 on Thursday night.
Stamkos ended a 16-game regular-season goal drought dating to last season from the slot with 4:41 left in the second. The goal gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead.
Vasilevskiy, 7-0-0 against Detroit, stopped Christoffer Ehn's shot during a 2-on-none short-handed break in the first and made a post-to-post glove save on Frans Nielsen during a second period 2-on-1.
Brayden Point and Alex Killorn also scored for the Lightning, who went 4-1-0 on a season-opening homestand. Tampa Bay has won 12 in a row against the Red Wings.
Detroit, winless at 0-5-2, got a goal from Luke Glendening, and Jimmy Howard stopped 28 shots. It's the Red Wings' worst season-opening stretch since opening the 1985-86 season with eight losses and a tie.
Howard made a strong save on Stamkos during a 3-on-1 in the third.
Killorn made it 3-1 on a late empty-netter.
Point opened the scoring 7:33 into the game when Yanni Gourde's pass went off his skate and pass Howard. Glendening tied it on a rebound at 6:30 of the second.
Tampa Bay remains the lone NHL team not allowing a power-play goal, running its season-opening streak to 23 after Detroit went 0 for 5.
Tampa Bay right wing Ryan Callahan played for the first time since offseason right shoulder surgery.
The Red Wings injury-depleted defensive corps got the return of Trevor Daley, who had an assist after missing four games with a neck injury. Mike Green (virus) and Jonathan Ericsson (upper body) both practiced with the team. Danny DeKeyser (hand) is also out.
NOTES: Stamkos has an eight-game point streak against Detroit (six goals, 11 points). ... Tampa Bay acquired F Mitch Hults from Anaheim in return for future considerations and assigned him to Syracuse of the AHL. C Cory Conacher was reassigned and F Danick Martel sent for a conditional stint to Syracuse.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Play Saturday at Florida.
Lightning: Start a four-game road trip Saturday at Minnesota.
