Marco Kasper kept the Detroit Red Wings playoff hopes alive by tying the game late in the third period, and then scoring the overtime winner as the Tampa Bay Lightning dropped their second consecutive overtime game, 4-3. Gage Goncalves had his first career multi-goal game as he gave the Bolts the lead early in the third period, but the Bolts weren’t able to hold the lead, and their chance to move back within a point of the Toronto Maple Leafs went by the wayside.
Unlike their last outing, the Lightning took advantage of a team that played the night before as they leaned on the Red Wings early. Coupled with lackluster coverage through the neutral zone by the visitors and Tampa Bay was able to attack early and often. Brayden Point sliced through the defense, but the entry pass missed his stick. One shift later, Brandon Hagel’s pass to Anthony Cirelli did not miss and Tony was in alone on Alex Lyon. Simon Edvinsson was able to get a stick on the puck to disrupt the initial shots, but Cirelli stuck with it and lifted up and into the net for the early lead.
The Bolts had some more space in the offensive zone, but weren’t able to capitalize. Detroit found their footing as the period went on and put a few solid shifts together, in fact, it could be argued that they had the better run of play for much of it, but the Lightning defense held. They were solid on the penalty kill after Ryan McDonagh took a tripping penalty (and the refs ignored the pile-up that ensued after the Red Wings shot the puck into the net after the whistle).
There was a lot of pace in the opening period, and it seemed like the Red Wings kind of caught the Lightning off-guard a little following the Cirelli goal. The Bolts regained their footing as the period wore on, but struggled to trouble Lyon with difficult shots.
The second period was an odd one. The Lightning dominated statistically, driving 72.22% of the scoring chances (13-5) and 72.73% (8-3) of the high-danger chances, but Detroit outscored them 2-1. Both of the Detroit goals, heck, all three of the goals scored in the period were kind of fluky. Detroit equalized the score four minutes into the period when Patrick Kane did what goal-scorers do – find the right spot at the right time. He knifed into the slot and was in position when Marco Kasper’s pass hit off of Victor Hedman’s stick. Kane flipped the puck off the underside of the crossbar and in for his 21st goal of the season.
For the net long stretch of play, the Lightning controlled a lot of it. Outside of a two-on-one chance that Ryan McDonagh smothered, most of the chances came off of the Lightning’s sticks. Their best was a snap-shot from the slot from Oliver Bjorkstrand that Alex Lyon somehow got a glove on.
With just over three minutes to go, a Red Wings shot went high off of the end-boards. Vasilevskiy casually cruised back into his crease as he expected the puck to come out the other side. The frozen piece of unpredictable rubber had other ideas and ricocheted straight out and off of the back of his skate. Nick Perbix tried to sweep it out, but old friend Tyler Motte was there to poke it home and give the Red Wings the lead.
A lead that lasted all of 1:12. Brandon Hagel flipped a puck in on net and Lyon tried to play it from his stick to his glove to cover it up for the whistle, but Gage Goncalves had other ideas. He was able to get his stick on the puck before Lyon covered it up, and was able to knock it into the goal.
His first goal of the season wasn’t super pretty, but Goncalves second goal of the night was pretty, pretty nice. Brandon Hagel took a hit along the boards to make a pass to Goncalves in the slot and the rookie didn’t miss as he beat Lyon to the far post.
With the lead the Lightning played okay. They pressed a little, and while they were losing the shot battle, they were limiting the Red Wings to a lot of shots from the perimeter that Vasilevskiy easily swallowed up. Unfortunately, with a one-goal lead, it only takes one shot to tie it, and that’s what the Red Wings did as Marco Kasper sniped a shot past Vasilevskiy off of a rush.
Detroit had the better chances in the fading moments of regulation with Moritz Seider finding the iron not once, but twice. The Lightning held on and for the second straight night, they went to overtime. And, for the second straight night, they couldn’t pull out the extra point.
After some early puck possession in the bonus frame failed to generate any chances, they got caught in their own zone for an extended stretch. Eventually, they were able to clear the puck, but Yanni Gourde was stuck out on the ice with some tired legs. A turnover in the neutral zone led to Kasper entering with speed, and Gourde just didn’t have the juice to cut him off. With a clear lane to the net, Kasper put it past Vasilevskiy and Detroit kept their playoff hopes alive for another night.
The Goals
Anthony Cirelli (Brandon Hagel, Darren Raddysh) 1-0 Lightning
Patrick Kane (unassisted) 1-1
Tyler Motte (Justin Holl, William Lagesson) 2-1 Red Wings
Gage Goncalves (unassisted) 2-2
Gage Goncalves (Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli ) 3-2 Lightning
Marco Kasper (Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane) 3-3
Marco Kasper (unassisted) 4-3 Red Wings
The Charts
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Tampa Bay Lightning on 2025-04-11 #GoBolts
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) April 11, 2025 at 9:48 PM
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