Red Wings’ Post-Game: Tarasenko Finally Nets 300th

Vladimir Tarasenko probably had relief mixed in with his joy over netting his 300th career NHL goal Saturday in the Detroit Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This has been a disappointing season for the Russian forward. The six-time 33-plus goal scorer only has seven goals this season. He has been sitting on 299 goals for 10 games before scoring on a tip shot against fellow countryman Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“I thought that Vladdy had a real good game tonight,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “Did a lot of things well…He was not at the scene of the crime, if you will, for any of the five or six goals against.”

Tarasenko had four shots on goal as the Red Wings played from behind for almost a full 60 minutes.

Tarasenko is the fourth active Russian player to reach the 300-goal milestone, joining Alex Ovechkin (879), Evgeni Malkin (507) and Nikita Kucherov (345). He is the third member of the 2010 NHL Draft class to score at least 300 goals, joining Jeff Skinner (367)
and Tyler Seguin (360).

“Found a way to score,”  McLellan said. “Thought he had brought some physicality to his game and karma kind of all goes together when all those things are happening, you find a way to score. So we’re all happy for him and. And maybe this is the beginning of regular production. ”

DeBrincat Brings It

Alex DeBrincat’s goal and two assists give him 10 multi-point games and three 3-point games this season. He leads the team with 24 goals.

He has thrived since Todd McLellan became head coach on Dec. 26: the Michigan native simply looks more dangerous. Statistics say he is more dangerous, showing 11 goals and 10 assist for 21 points in his last 20 games.

Early Exit

McLellan pulled goalie Alex Lyon at the 2:56 mark of the first period and replaced him with Cam Talbot after he gave up his second goal. It was the earliest Detroit goalie pull since Jan. 10, 2015 when Jimmy Howard was pulled after one goal. His exit was prompted by an injury.

“Here’s the thing about pulling a goaltender,” McLellan said. “When you pull a goaltender, he leaves the game and he’s not heard of or seen anymore. And everybody asks questions. When a coach has a (bad) night, he doesn’t get pulled. He just stays in the game and he stands there. And when a player has a (bad) night, they continue on. So it’s so magnified for the goaltenders “

McLellan added: “By no means is that on the two guys that wear the pads, because as I alluded to earlier, we were so careless that maybe if they got us one save out of the four, but it’s team lost tonight, not just on the targets. “