Nikita Kucherov scored the game-winner 27 seconds into overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning earned their 50th win, edging the visiting Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on Monday night.
The Lightning (50-25-6, 106 points) were eliminated from winning the Atlantic Division when the Buffalo Sabres (50-23-8, 108 points) wrapped up first place later in the evening with a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Tampa Bay is tied for second with the Montreal Canadiens (48-23-10, 106 points), but the Lightning have the tiebreaker edge. Both teams have one game remaining.
After Lightning 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).
Conor Geekie, Erik Cernak and Jake Guentzel also tallied as the Lightning moved to 26-13-1 on home ice. Kucherov added 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 Detroit fell to 1-3-2 in its past six.
Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot started the first scoring play by flipping a distant shot that Vasilevskiy failed to glove. The rebound fell 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 a review, the officials ruled that Detroit’s Andrew Copp banged skates with Vasilevskiy in the blue paint and overturned the goal call.
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 of the opening period. 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 at 2:56 of the third, and DeBrincat tied it on a pass from Kane at 15:16.
–Field Level Media
