Kucherov OT Heroics Lead Bolts to Victory in Penultimate Game
- Michelle Gordon
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Tonight featured a battle between two teams with very little to play for. The Tampa Bay Lightning remain in a battle for home ice advantage in the 2026 playoffs. However, home ice has not been particularly kind to the Bolts over the last several playoff seasons. The Detroit Red Wings, meanwhile, saw their playoff dreams come to an end following their 5-3 loss on Saturday. Nonetheless, both teams took to the ice at Benchmark International Arena for their penultimate game of the regular season. In the end, both teams fought hard and pushed this one to overtime for the hometown fans to enjoy some Nikita Kucherov heroics.
Early Struggles Continue in Penultimate Game
The Lightning continued their recent trend of slow starts tonight. They had some chances, but gave up the first goal yet again. David Perron scored his 13th of the season at 5:31 to give Detroit an early lead. The Wings almost doubled that lead midway through the period. However, the Lightning challenged for goaltender interference, and the challenge was successful.
The Bolts did manage to tie this one before the end of the first. The recently called up Conor Geekie got a burst of speed and blew best the Red Wing defense for a breakaway attempt. He rifled a shot past netminder Cam Talbot to tie the game 1-1. It was Geekie's first goal of the season. Oliver Bjorkstand got the lone assist.
The Red Wings outshot the Bolts 14-8 in the opening period and won 14 of 19 faceoffs.
Bolts Take Control In Second
The Lightning had a much better second period in their penultimate regular season game. Their efforts were rewarded at 15:53 when Ryan McDonagh found Erik Cernak with room in front. Cernak fired it past a sprawling Cam Talbot to give Tampa Bay their first lead of the night at 2-1.
Just over two minutes later, the Bolts would make that a multi-goal lead. Jake Guentzel roofed a perfect shot over Talbot's shoulder at 18:03 to make it 3-1. Nikita Kucherov got the assist. It was assist number 86 for number 86!
Bolts Lose Control in Third
The third period was not impressive for Tampa Bay. Detroit was all over them. The Wings got an early goal from Marco Kasper to pull within a goal. They applied relentless pressure for the next twelve and a half minutes. Just past the fifteen-minute mark, the Lightning got sloppy in the offensive zone and gave Detroit a 2-0. Patrick Kane made a beautiful pass to Alex DeBrincat, and DeBrincat made no mistake in drilling his 41st of the season past Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie the game at 3-3.
And the Hero of the Penultimate Game is...
Overtime did not last long at Benchmark International Arena tonight. The Red Wings had the first opportunity, and Vasy made the save. And then, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov took over. After some pretty passing, Kuch did a Kuch thing and tallied his 44th goal of the season just 27 seconds into overtime to give his team a 4-3 victory.
With that Win
With the win, the Bolts move into a 3-way tie atop the division once again with 106 points. They pass Montreal to move into second as both teams have played 81 games, and the Lightning have the tiebreaker for regulation wins. Buffalo remains on top as they are still in the middle of their 81st game, currently leading the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in the second period.
Three Stars
Nikita Kucherov-- Game winning goal in OT, as well as assist number 86
Conor Geekie-- First goal of the season
Brayden Point-- Great assist on the game-winning goal
Up Next
The Bolts will play their final regular season game on Wednesday night as the New York Rangers come to town. Game time scheduled for 7pm.
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