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While the good news for the Detroit Red Wings is that they came back from a 3-1 third-period deficit against the Tampa Bay Lightning to knot the score and earn a point in the standings, the bad news is that it doesn’t mean anything for them.
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Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, one of the five best players in the NHL, scored the overtime game-winning goal just 27 seconds into the extra session, giving Tampa Bay a 4-3 win at Benchmark International Arena.
For the Red Wings, who were officially eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention on Saturday evening, it was their penultimate game of the 2025-26 regular season.
Also adding insult to injury is the fact that, even though they now have accumulated the most points in a season since the start of their postseason drought, it still wasn’t enough to get them into the playoffs.
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The Red Wings found the back of the net first, as David Perron scored his third goal since his return to Detroit early last month at the NHL Trade Deadline, finishing off a feed at the side of the net from J.T. Compher.
However, the Lightning knotted the score late in the frame thanks to the first goal of the season from Conor Geekie.
Goals from Erik Cernak and Jake Guentzel gave the Lightning a 3-1 advantage through the end of 40 minutes, but the Red Wings would fight their way back into the contest.
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First, Marco Kasper scored just his second goal since March 10, bringing them back to within one. And with 4:44 left in regulation, Alex DeBrincat scored his team-leading 41st goal of the season on a two-on-none rush with Patrick Kane, who picked up the 1,400th point of his career with the assist.
But Kucherov silenced Detroit’s comeback attempt shortly into overtime with his 44 goal of the season.
Cam Talbot, making what could likely be his final start in a Red Wings uniform, made 18 saves, while Andrei Vasilevskiy countered with 27 saves.
The Red Wings have one game left on their schedule, and it comes on Wednesday against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, who were also recently eliminated from postseason contention.
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