While this was certainly not the Lightning’s cleanest performance, there were a couple of key takeaways from this game. 

First, the Lightning picked up two points to pull into a second-place tie with Montreal. There’s one game remaining for both teams, and the Lightning own the tiebreaker. 

Second, the Lightning, in a search to fill Pontus Holmberg’s absence, put Nick Paul on that line with Yanni Gourde and Zemgus Girgensons. The unit had an effective game matching up against Detroit’s line of Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, and Emmitt Finnie. They spent many of their shifts in possession of the puck in the offensive zone and held the three Detroit players without a point.

Still, there were some wobbly moments for the Lightning. They struggled at times exiting the defensive zone, didn’t win the possession battle (Detroit out-attempted Tampa Bay, 59-46), and surrendered a two-goal third-period lead.

But there were positives as well. The Lightning’s penalty kill went a perfect 4-4 (now 12-12 over the past three games). Conor Geekie scored his first NHL goal of the season, showing an explosive burst of speed to outrace Detroit defenders down the ice before finishing a breakaway at 17:05 of the first period. Nikita Kucherov netted the overtime winner and matched his career-high goal total (44) in the process. And Andrei Vasilevskiy delivered another strong performance; despite allowing three goals, he made a handful of difficult saves on Detroit scoring chances.

Since the Lightning weren’t able to win the game in regulation, the door opened for Buffalo to clinch the division with a regulation win in Chicago. The Sabres did that, defeating the Blackhawks to secure first place in the Atlantic Division. So the Lightning will face Montreal in the first round. The only question that remains is which team will get home ice. The Canadiens play in Philadelphia on Tuesday (the Flyers clinched third place in the Metropolitan on Monday). Regardless of what happens in the Montreal-Philadelphia game, the Lightning would secure second place with a win of any kind over the New York Rangers in the regular-season finale on Wednesday.

Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):

Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 27 saves.

Ryan McDonagh — Lightning. Assist.

Patrick Kane — Red Wings. Assist. 1,400th point.