The Tampa Bay Lightning won a hard battle Thursday night to beat the Detroit Red Wings 7-6 in overtime. With the win, Tampa Bay approves to 1-1-0 on the season. For the Red Wings, they lose their first game of the season and are now 0-0-1.
Game Recap
The first period began with both teams being assessed a penalty in the first ten minutes. Although Detroit could not take advantage of a power play, Dylan Larkin scored with six minutes remaining in the first. To end the period, Pat Maroon attempted to fight Givani Smith. This lead to a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties being assessed to both players.
The second period opened up with a pair of Tyler Bertuzzi goals. Ondrej Palat responded sixteen seconds after Detroit’s third goal to make the game 3-1. Soon after, Bertuzzi completed his hat trick with a power play goal. The action was not over; Steven Stamkos scored a pair of power play goals to put the Bolts within one goal (down 4-3).
To open up the third period, Bertuzzi scored his fourth goal of the night. Soon after, Vladislav Namestnikov, a former Lightning draft pick, improved the Red Wings lead to three with a goal. Despite being down three with seven minutes left, the Lightning BOLT-ed back into the game. Colton, Kucherov, and Killorn’s goals tied the game at 6-6 prior to the end of regulation.
Just past halfway through the overtime period, Ondrej Palat scored his second of the night. Despite dominating the game, Tampa Bay had to battle to the very end, to win 7-6 in overtime.
Takeaways/Notes
- Tyler Bertuzzi is the ninth player in NHL history to score four or more goals in a season-opening game. Bertuzzi is the first to do so since Auston Matthews’ NHL debut on Oct 12, 2016.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy’s .769 save percentage is his eighth-worst single-game performance in his career. In addition, it is his worst single-game performance since 3/25/19 vs Boston.
- In the middle frame, there were ten penalties; nine of those were roughing.
Up Next
Tampa Bay will wrap up their two-game road trip in Washington on Saturday, October 16th. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST. Then, on Tuesday night, Tampa Bay will play host to the Florida Panthers.