Lightning recover for OT win against Red Wings, move into 2nd in Atlantic

TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov scored 27 seconds into overtime for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who moved into second place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Benchmark International Arena on Monday.

Kucherov took a return pass from Brayden Point on a 2-on-1 rush and scored into an open net. The play came right after Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped Alex DeBrincat on a partial breakaway.

Conor Geekie scored his first goal of the season, and Jake Guentzel and Erik Cernak also scored for the Lightning (50-25-6), who have won two in a row after losing three straight. Vasilevskiy made 27 saves.

With the Buffalo Sabres defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 on Monday, the Lightning are locked in to playing the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference First Round. Each team has 106 points with one game remaining, but Tampa Bay is currently in second place because it holds the regulation wins tiebreaker (40-34).

"We had a couple of slip ups and they nearly cost us. 'Vasy' made some big saves for us," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "Were we fine? Yes. But you can't give up 2-on-1s like we did. On the big picture we were fine."

Patrick Kane became the 24th player in NHL history to reach 1,400 points by getting an assist for the Red Wings (41-30-10), who are 1-3-2 in their past six games and have been eliminated from playoff contention. DeBrincat, David Perron and Marco Kasper scored, and Cam Talbot made 18 saves.

"It is what it is right now, and you have to play out the schedule," Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. "There's always concern if guys are going to just play safe, but they were real competitive today, so I give them credit for that."

Perron gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 5:31 of the first period when he scored into an open net off a pass from J.T. Compher. The sequence started after Vasilevskiy couldn't glove down Ben Chiarot's shot from the point.

Geekie tied it 1-1 at 17:05, scoring with a forehand that trickled past Talbot on a breakaway.

"I haven't scored in a while, even in Syracuse (of the American Hockey League), so it's nice to get one under your belt," Geekie said. "Just don't lose the puck was the thought. I just wanted one shot coming up here to see if I could score, and I'm lucky enough it went in."

Cernak gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 15:53 of the second period. Talbot stopped Cernak's initial redirection and Ryan McDonagh's follow-up chance in front. However, McDonagh collected his own rebound near the right post and passed back to an open Cernak, who scored past the prone goaltender.

Guentzel extended the lead to 3-1 at 18:03 with a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Talbot to the far post. Kucherov set Guentzel up after his initial shot was deflected wide.

"We just have to do better in the situations when we're up by two goals," Cernak said. "We have one more game before the playoffs to dial that in and play a little better."

Kasper cut it to 3-2 at 2:56 of the third period. He scored with his backhand from the edge of the crease off a pass from James van Riemsdyk, who took control of a loose puck after an initial shot from Justin Faulk.

"We played a solid game today. It could've gone either way," Kasper said. "We tried to play hard and obviously tried to get a win because that's what you play hockey for."

DeBrincat tied it 3-3 at 15:16. Kane stole the puck from Emil Lilleberg at the defensive blue line, skated in on a 2-on-0 rush, and passed to DeBrincat for the finish.

Kane, who has 508 goals and 892 assists in 1,368 career games, is the fourth active player to reach the 1,400-point milestone, joining Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.

"I thought we showed up tonight," Kane said. "I think the group should be proud of itself playing against a team like that. We could've easily packed it in at 3-1 ... but to come back and get it to overtime, proud of the group for sure."

NOTES: Kane said he plans on playing next season. ... Kucherov's goal was his 44th of the season, tying his NHL career high he set in 2023-24.