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Lightning try to stay hot in Detroit

Nov 9, 2013 - 4:09 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The streaking Tampa Bay Lightning take aim at a fourth straight win when they visit the Detroit Red Wings for Saturday's battle at Joe Louis Arena.

The Lightning posted a 4-2 win Thursday against visiting Edmonton, giving Tampa Bay its third three-game winning streak of the season. The Bolts, who are 6-1-0 over their last seven outings, haven't posted four wins in a row since a five-game winning streak from Jan. 22-Feb. 1 of last season.

Tampa's red-hot sniper Steven Stamkos continued his recent tear by putting up two more goals to lead the Lightning to Thursday's home win over the Oilers. Stamkos' 12th and 13th markers of the season supported a 38-save performance from Ben Bishop. The All-Star center is riding a five-game goal scoring streak and has recorded a point in seven consecutive contests.

Despite his personal hot streak and his club's third straight win, Stamkos was less than pleased with his team's effort on Thursday.

"I'm not very happy with the way we played tonight. If it weren't for (Bishop) we don't win that game. We'll take it, it is tough to win in this game. You can't expect to win in the long run if we play that way," Stamkos said.

Tyler Johnson and Valtteri Filppula also had goals for Tampa Bay, which improved to 7-2-0 at home. The Lightning will play three straight and seven of their next eight games on the road, where Tampa is 4-2-0 this season.

Tampa Bay has not fared well against the Red Wings in recent years, losing six straight in the series. Detroit is 7-0 with a tie in eight meetings since the Lightning last beat the Red Wings by a 1-0 score on Jan. 7, 2003 in Tampa.

The Bolts last won on the road in this series on Jan, 12, 1994 and Detroit is 10-0 with a tie in the past 11 encounters in the Motor City.

Detroit, however, has lost two straight heading into Saturday's contest. The Red Wings' current slide comes on the heels of a three-game winning streak and the funk drops Mike Babcock's club to 3-3-3 over their past nine trips to the ice.

The Red Wings opened a four-game homestand Thursday against Dallas and lost a 4-3 overtime decision. Rich Peverley scored the winning goal with 18.5 seconds left in the extra session to hand the visiting Stars the extra point.

Detroit held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 on Thursday, but Dallas sent the game to OT thanks to Cody Eakin's power-play goal with 70 seconds left in regulation. The Stars then won it with time winding down in the extra session when Peverley skated from the left boards to the top of the circle, where he fired a wrister that beat a screened Jimmy Howard.

Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi each posted a goal and an assist while Henrik Zetterberg added three assists for the Red Wings. Howard stopped 24 shots.

"We really have to do a better job at home," said Zetterberg. "We have a lot of games at home this month and we have to take advantage of them."

Detroit is playing seven of its next nine games in Motown, but is just 3-2-3 at the Joe this season.

The Red Wings will play a fourth straight game without forward Johan Franzen (upper body) on Saturday and centerman Stephen Weiss will join him on the shelf with a groin issue. Detroit recalled forward Luke Glendening from Grand Rapids of the AHL to bolster its depth up front.