By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
Red Wings 6, Lightning 2 – The Red Wings finished their four-game road trip with a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
The Lightning were led by Erik Condra who scored two goals while Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Steven Stamkos each chipped in with a goal and an assist.
Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm each scored a goal for Detroit.
Detroit’s goaltender Jimmy Howard took the loss, stopping 13 of 16 shots before getting pulled for Petr Mrazek early in the second period.
The Red Wings are now 36-26-11 on the season, good for 83 points and fourth place in the Atlantic Division. They are tied with Philadelphia for the final playoff spot with nine games remaining.
Detroit will start a three-game home stand starting on Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
Record: 36-26-11 83 pts
Tied 4th Place in Atlantic Division (6 pts behind Florida and Tampa Bay)
Tied 8th Place in Eastern Conference (26 pts behind Washington)
Tied with Philadelphia for the last playoff spot
Magic # to clinch 25th straight playoff berth: 21 pts
Magic # to clinch Atlantic Division title: 25 pts
Misery # towards elimination from a playoff berth: 19 pts
Misery # towards elimination from Atlantic Division title: 13 pts
Eliminated from Eastern Conference title contention
Next Game: 03/24/2016 vs. Montreal Canadiens 7:30 p.m. @ Joe Louis Arena
Stats: Goals- Justin Abdelkader (18), Darren Helm (12). Assists- Pavel Datsyuk (27), Niklas Kronwall (20), Anthony Mantha (1), Henrik Zetterberg (32). Goaltender- Jimmy Howard L (10-11-5) 13 saves on 16 shots, Petr Mrazek 15 saves on 18 shots.