Lightning Comeback To Defeat Red Wings
Nikita Kucherov scored the game-winning goal in a shootout to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 on Tuesday night.
The Lightning never led in the game and rallied three separate times from a deficit, including twice from a two-goal deficit. Cedric Paquette scored a short-handed goal at 14:58 of the third period to force overtime. Mathieu Joseph chipped in a pair of goals and Steven Stamkos and J.T. Miller also scored.
With the win Tampa Bay improves to 21-7-1 on the season and extend their current winning streak to four straight games. They’ve also won seven of their last eight.
The win also extends the Bolts regular season winning streak to 13 in a row over Detroit. Tampa Bay has won six straight in Detroit including playoffs and improved to 3-0-0 all-time at Little Caesars Arena.
Frans Nielsen registered a hat trick and Gustav Nyquist scored twice for Detroit in the loss as they see their record fall to 12-12-4.
About Pasquale:
The story of the game was Lightning goalie Eddie Pasquale who was making his NHL debut after spending each of the last eight season in the American Hockey League. He stopped 19-of-24 he faced but came up big in the shootout stopping both Thomas Vanek and Frans Nielsen en route to picking up his first NHL win.
“I didn’t expect to give up five goals and get a win, but at the end of the day, this team has so much scoring power that you’ve just got to fight through.” Pasquale said. “It was one of those games a couple nice goals, a couple crappy ones, but I held in there and we got a win.”
Coach Jon Cooper noted that he felt that Pasquale handled his firt game pretty well, saying that a shootout in your first NHL game as nerve-racking but awesome at the same time. “I think he handled it pretty well. Tough bounce in the first, and we gave them some Grade-A’s. The goals he gave he couldn’t really do anything. Props to him.” Cooper said. “I think he deserves to be here and he deserved to have that start. He’s been playing good in Syracuse and is a great guy and he deserves it.”
Up Next:
Tampa Bay returns to Amalie Arena after sweeping their three game road trip. They take on the Boston Bruins Thursday night at 7:30. Detroit travels north of the border to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night.
