Detroit — The Red Wings needed some victories on this homestand after a disappointing road trip and thus far they’re accumulating those victories.
They won their second consecutive game on the three-game homestand Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Tampa Bay.
Marco Kasper got his stick on a J.T. Compher shot and redirected the puck around goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy at 9:55 of the second period and Michael Rasmussen scored an empty-net goal to send the Wings to victory.
Rasmussen, driving to the net, was tripped by Nikita Kucherov and barreled into the empty net and looked shaken. But coach Todd McLellan said after the game Rasmussen appeared fine.
“He was getting looked at in the doctor’s office, things are OK from what I’ve been told so far,” McLellan said. “I haven’t had a chance to look at it (the play on video). I know there was some discussion, a little bit about it.”
Goaltender Cam Talbot made it stand up with 28 saves.
BOX SCORE: Red Wings 2, Lightning 0
The Wings (23-21-5) remained four points out of a playoff spot, needing to jump three teams. Tampa (26-19-3) holds the first of the two wild-card spots, also four points ahead of the Wings.
But after losing 5-1 in Tampa the week before, this was a feel-good victory for the Wings.
“It’s really important,” Kasper said of the victory. “They know how to win. When we can close out games like that and Talbs (Talbot) making unreal saves, it helps us for sure.”
The Lightning defeated Chicago in overtime on the road Friday but played their stars big minutes against the Wings, only to get shut out for the first time since Nov. 14, 2023 (5-0 by St. Louis).
“Big victory,” McLellan said. “We took advantage of a team that played last night and went 11 (forwards) and seven (defensemen) and really ran their big guys hard, and they were still effective at the end of the night. But we defended well and the penalty kill came up big and your goaltender has to be one of your better players most nights and he was that tonight.”
Vasilevskiy, generally considered the best goaltender in the league, displayed his elite form most of the night with 29 saves. But Talbot was just a bit better in the final glance, making a big save on Brayden Point with Vasilevskiy pulled with just two minutes remaining.
“That’s team with a lot of pedigree, winning pedigree, and know how to pull out these tight games,” Talbot said. “Kucherov sitting there with the puck, he has options and you know he’s going to find someone eventually. Give the guys in front of me a lot of credit, they blocked shots, and boxed out and let me see most of the pucks tonight and sometimes you have to weather the storm and get a lucky bounce.
“We did a little bit of all that tonight.”
Talbot was huge in the final two minutes, with Vasilevskiy pulled, frustrating Tampa on several opportunities. Along with the stop on Point, he stopped Anthony Cirelli on a rebound attempt and watched as Victor Hedman missed an open net from the side.
Talbot was in net last week in Tampa for that defeat but was hardly solely responsible for the result. McLellan felt Talbot was aching to earn another chance.
“We were debating on who we were going to start, and I’ve been around Talbs enough that he probably wanted to start after what happened in Tampa, and it wasn’t on him by any means,” McLellan said. “He had a good game the other night and I just had a gut feeling this is what he wanted and he got an opportunity and took advantage of it.”
The Wings were scoreless on three power-play attempts and killed both Tampa power plays.
“It proves we can win games any way we need to right now,” Talbot said. “We can put five or six (goals) on the board or we can make one (goal) hold up. That gives you a ton of confidence, especially against a team like that and coming back from what they did to us in their building last week.
“It shows mental fortitude in our team right now and you like to see that this time of year in a game we definitely needed.”
The Wings conclude the homestand Monday against Los Angeles (7 p.m., FDSN/97.1).
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.