The mantra since the Tampa Bay Lightning’s overtime loss to Washington on Tuesday was that they needed to shoot the puck more. So what do they do? Spend the first 13 minutes of the game not shooting the puck. By the time Conor Geekie registered their first shot at the 13:37 mark, they were down 1-0 to the Red Wings. A flurry of activity in the third period that led to J.J. Moser’s first goal of the season rescued a point, but Dylan Larkin snagged the bonus point when he beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on a breakaway in overtime.
With Nikita Kucherov a late scratch due to illness, Coach Jon Cooper shuffled up the lines moving Gage Goncalves up to the Brayden Point line and inserting Geekie on the Anthony Cirelli line. Both Curtis Douglas and Jack Finley drew into the game on the fourth line. Darren Raddysh also made his return to the line-up in place of the injured Max Crozier.
Perhaps it was the same faces in different places that led to the Lightning’s slow start, but they spent the first fifteen minutes of the game skating uphill, in mud, with pianos on their backs. The Red Wings, sporting a line-up with three 20-year-olds, constantly outskated them and had Tampa Bay chasing the play for much of the period.
It took just over 13 minutes, but Detroit finally made them pay as Axel Sandin-Pellilkka (one of those 20-year-olds) beat a screened Vasilevskiy from the top of the slot on a delayed penalty. It was the Lightning’s netminder’s lone moment of defeat in regulation in his best statistical game of the season, stopping 29 shots and posting a 1.42 GSAx.
Axel Sandin-Pellikka (Dylan Larkin, Mason Appleton) 1-0 Red Wings
Detroit goal! Scored by Axel Sandin-Pellikka with 06:58 remaining in the 1st period. Assisted by Dylan Larkin and Mason Appleton. Detroit: 1 Tampa Bay: 0 #TBLvsDET #LGRW #GoBolts
— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 7:37 PM
[image or embed]
To their credit, the Lightning picked up their play to end the period. Following Geekie’s shot, they tested John Gibson with five more shots before the horn sounded.
The second period, well it was officially a period of hockey. The Lightning started off with a string of shot attempts, but then trailed off despite having two power plays. The power play was not good. They had three opportunities on the night and generated, by Natural Stat Trick’s count, nine shot attempts. Not a single one reached the net. On the other side of the coin, the penalty kill continued it’s strong start to the season as they killed off three Detroit power plays, allowing just three shots.
While Tampa Bay managed to drag the Red Wings down into the mud with them for most of the period, Detroit still managed to out-chance them 12-5 in the period over the middle period. Vasilevskiy held strong in net, and the defense in front of him cleared out any second chance opportunities.
The game turned in the third period, and it was the fourth line that got things started. Douglas came close to scoring his first career goal with a couple of in-tight chances. Gibson, who might have been napping during the first two periods, was sharp when his team needed it, turning aside a point-blank chance from Jake Guentzel.
With a bit of desperation to their game, and with the Red Wings backing off of their forecheck, the Lightning were able to generate some momentum through the neutral zone. With their entries coming easier, they set up shot in the offensive zone and, get this, shot the puck. They generated 37 shot attempts in the final frame, with 20 of those shots getting on net.
Just when it seemed like Gibson was going to goalie his way out of the jam, J.J. Moser sent a puck in on net from the left point. A completely screened Gibson never saw the puck, and the game was tied with 3:43 left to go in the game.
J.J. Moser (Victor Hedman, Conor Geekie) 1-1
"SCORREEE!!! MOSER!!! FINALLY!!!!!" Moser grabs his first of the season at a great time! #TBLvsDET 🎧: boltsaud.io/live 📻: 102.5 The Bone
— Lightning Audio Network (@boltsradio.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 9:39 PM
[image or embed]
It was off to overtime, and well, it went the way one would expect it to go. There was some progress over Tuesday’s game where they never touched the puck. There was a little more balance in this game as the Lightning did have two shots on three attempts. As has been their luck in the bonus frame of late, their best chance turned into the game-winning goal for Detroit.
Victor Hedman had cycled down low in front of Gibson and Jake Guentzel found him with the perfect shot-pass. Hedman would have had an easy back-door, tap-in, but Gibson managed to get just enough of it to deflect the puck into the corner. The puck found it’s way to Dylan Larkin. Despite being 1:08 into his shift, he turned the jets on and beat Vasilevskiy low on the blocker side for the win.
The Bolts picked up a point in their third straight road game and improved their record to 1-2-2 on the season. Meanwhile Detroit won their fourth game in a row and are tied at the top of the standings with Montreal. Tampa Bay will get yet another chance to pick up their second win of the season as they head to Columbus for the second part of the back-to-back.
