Nikita Kucherov scored the game-winner 27 seconds into overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning started a final two-game homestand with their 50th win, edging the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on Monday night.
After goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (27 saves) stuffed Alex DeBrincat just after the puck dropped in overtime, Brayden Point went the other way and executed a give-and-go with Kucherov for his 44th marker as the Lightning won for the fourth time in seven games (4-3-0).
Trailing the Buffalo Sabres and idle Montreal Canadiens in points, the Lightning (50-25-6, 106 points) sat in third place by two points entering the contest but wasted a 3-1 third-period lead.
Conor Geekie, Erik Cernak and Jake Guentzel also tallied as the club moved to 26-13-1 on home ice. Kucherov also had an assist.
DeBrincat netted his 41st goal for the Red Wings, and David Perron and Marco Kasper scored for the Red Wings (41-30-10, 92 points), who saw Patrick Kane register his 1,400th career point on an assist. Goalie Cam Talbot stopped 18 shots as the team fell to 1-3-2 in its past six.
Defenseman Ben Chiarot started the first goal by flipping a distant shot that Vasilevskiy failed to glove and rebounded nearby to J.T. Compher, who quickly zipped a pass across the ice to Perron for his 13th marker at 5:31 of the first period.
At 15:30, Simon Edvinsson found the net for what appeared to be a 2-0 lead, but the Lightning challenged for goaltender interference. After review, the officials ruled that Detroit’s Andrew Copp banged skates with Vasilevskiy in the blue paint and overturned the goal call, negating point No. 1,400 for Kane.
In just his 14th game this season, Geekie grabbed a pass in the defensive end, raced three-quarters of the ice on a breakaway and put the puck past Talbot, who got a piece but could not keep it out at 17:05. It was Geekie’s first of the season.
After being outshot 14-8 in the first, Tampa Bay crafted a two-goal lead in the final five minutes of the middle frame when Cernak and Guentzel popped the twine within a 2:10 span to make it 3-1.
Kasper closed the gap to one with his ninth at 2:56 into the third, and DeBrincat tied it on a pass from Kane, giving him his milestone point and leading to overtime.
–Field Level Media
