Just under two minutes into overtime, Darren Raddysh called game as he went top shelf for the game-winner, becoming the second defenseman in as many games to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a victory in the extra frame. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had 27 saves on the night, assisted on the goal. Raddysh ended up with 25:13 of playing time after Erik Cernak left the game early with an injury. There was no update on his condition after the game.
Thursday’s game also marked the debut of forward Gage Goncalves who played 9:00 and picked up a roughing double-minor penalty in the first period. His coach had nothing but praise for him after the game. “Gage won a lot of points in the locker room when Cerny [Erik Cernak] got hit and he jumped in there to defend a teammate…I though he had poise with puck, he made plays and almost scored.”
It was another game where the Lightning surrendered the lead early despite playing alright. The goal itself, well, sometimes the puck doesn’t bounce the way you hope it does. With the Lightning changing, the Devils had a free pass through the neutral zone and a nice drop pass from Erik Haula created a lane for Dawson Mercer to cut in front of the net. Vasilevskiy made the initial save, but Mercer banked it off of the goaltender’s back from a steep angle.
Dawson Mercer (Erik Haula, Colin Miller) 1-0 Devils
The Bolts didn’t let the bad times snowball and were able to climb back into the game with the help of their fourth line. Luke Glendening won a face-off in the offensive zone. The puck was worked back to the defense and Nick Perbix launched a shot from between the top of the circles that Glendening tipped past Vitek Vanecek to tie the game,
Luke Glendening (Nick Perbix, Austin Watson) 1-1
Glendening wasn’t done. Lightning fans have gotten quite accustomed to watching their team make egregious turnovers that turn into goals. This time it was Tampa Bay that was absolutely gifted a goal. On the power play, Luke Hughes was set to skate the puck out of the zone, instead he blew a tire and lost control of the puck. Glendening was there to pounce on the puck and wristed it past Vanecek to give the Bolts the lead.
Luke Glendening (unassisted) Shorthanded, 2-1 Lightning
Midway through the second period the Lightning scored what turned out to be a huge goal. After watching the bottom-six do some of the heavy lifting over the last game-and-a-half, the top line found paydirt with Brayden Point notching his 20th goal of the season. With the Lightning on a delayed penalty, Nikita Kucherov found Point in the slot and he wristed it home for the 3-1 lead. Not technically a power play goal, but just as good as one.
Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov, Nick Perbix)
Why was that goal important? Because the Devils posted the next two goals. Jesper Bratt scored about six minutes after Point’s goal to make it 3-2.
Early in the third, Nathan Bastian completed the Devils’ comeback. Nick Perbix tried an ill-advised backhand pass at middle ice that Bastian knocked down and took in all alone on Vasilevskiy.
Nathan Bastian (unassisted) 3-3
The Lightning dodged a bullet a few minutes later when Michael McLeod’s apparent go-ahead goal was overturned when it was ruled the Devils were offside. That set the stage for Raddysh’s game-winner in overtime. Raddysh gave credit to Kucherov who slithered around the ice to set up the shot,
“Just get open. He’ll find you, eventually.”
Darren Raddysh (Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy) 4-3 Lightning
