Paquette Has 3 goals, Lightning Beat Wings 5-1
By MARK DIDTLER/Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Cedric Paquette had three goals, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 on Thursday night for their franchise-record ninth consecutive home win.
Steven Stamkos and Mark Barberio also scored for the Lightning, who leapfrogged the Red Wings into first place in the Atlantic Division by a point. Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn had two assists apiece.
Tampa Bay took a 4-1 lead at 11:03 of the second when Paquette completed his first hat trick from the right circle during a short-handed 2-on-1. The center has four goals in the past two games after going 29 straight without one.
Darren Helm scored for Detroit, which had won six in a row.
Paquette opened the scoring 2:03 into the game when he used his backhand to beat Petr Mrazek on a rebound. His right-circle goal gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead with 36.2 seconds left in the first.
Stamkos made 3-1 on his 27th goal, a drive from the left circle during a power play at 4:18 of the second.
Helm tied it at 1 when he beat Ben Bishop from the slot at 11:59 of the first. Pavel Datsyuk got his 553rd assist on the play, lifting him into a tie for 100th place on the NHL's career list with Mike Bossy and Thomas Steen.
Bishop made a glove save on Riley Sheahan's breakaway late in the first. The goalie is 6-1-0 against the Red Wings.
Barberio stopped a 26-game goal drought, dating to March 8, late in the second.
NOTES: Paquette had five goals over five games before his 29-game drought. ... Datsyuk tied Ted Lindsay for 11th place on the Red Wings games played list with 862. ... Detroit RW Tomas Jurco returned after missing eight games with an injured back. ... Red Wings D Jakub Kindl, who missed 12 games due to an elbow injury, was activated from injured reserve but was scratched.
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