Detroit rookie Marco Kasper netted the tying and winning goals, and the Red Wings stayed alive in the playoff race with a 4-3 overtime win over the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.
After leveling the score at 3-3 with a goal at 12:59 of the third period, Kasper collected the puck in the neutral zone in OT and sped in from the left side to beat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy at 3:22.
The Red Wings (37-35-7, 81 points) ended a two-game skid, but their only hope of reaching the postseason is to win their last three games while the Montreal Canadiens drop their final three.
Detroit’s Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Motte also tallied. William Lagesson recorded his first point with the Red Wings, an assist, and goaltender Alex Lyon stopped 18 shots.
Gage Goncalves posted his first career two-goal game and Anthony Cirelli notched a goal and an assist for the Atlantic Division’s second-place Lightning (45-26-8, 98 points), who moved within two points of the idle Toronto Maple Leafs. Brandon Hagel had two assists and Vasilevskiy stopped 22 shots.
Right winger Nikita Kucherov played in his 800th game, becoming the sixth Lightning player to do so.
After Cirelli scored 61 seconds into the game, the teams went 23 minutes without scoring.
But four minutes into the second period, Kane buried his 492nd career goal to level the score. That marker put him 51st in NHL history as he passed Jean Ratelle.
Motte took advantage of a strange carom off a long shot to give Detroit its first lead. The puck bounced off the end board and back into the blue paint between Vasilevskiy’s legs, and Motte poked it home at 16:37 of the second.
Goncalves evened it 2-2 just 75 seconds later when he went to the net as Lyon had similar trouble in the crease trying to gather a bouncing puck. The forward got a piece of it for the second tie.
Goncalves notched his second tally 1:38 into the final period for a 3-2 lead. He took a feed from Hagel after Moritz Seider had to leave the ice following his helmet coming off after a battle with Hagel.
–Field Level Media
