The situation seemed dire for the Lightning as the final minutes ticked off the clock at Joe Louis Arena this evening. They couldn’t seem to solve Petr Mrazek yet again. It was better late than never for the Bolts as Tyler Johnson and the Triplets spearheaded a huge rally and 3-2 OT win.
After a scoreless first period, Detroit struck first when Gustav Nyquist got one past Bishop at 5:42. Joakim Andersson widened the gap with another goal at 14:24. Mrazek stood tall in net and the Red Wings seemed to have the game in hand.
Things can change very quickly in hockey and that’s exactly what happened in the third. After being shutout for 119:04, Tyler Johnson got the Lightning on the board with a snapshot at 14:34. Johnson would set up linemate Ondrej Palat‘s first goal of the playoffs to tie it up just 1:17 later.
Johnson continued his heroics in overtime. Set up by a cross-crease feed from Victor Hedman, Tyler beat Mrazek from below the left circle. It only took 2:25 of overtime for the Bolts to tie the series heading back to Tampa for Game 5.
Ben Bishop stopped 22 of 24 shots faced. Ryan Callahan was a one man wrecking crew, continuing to hit everything that moves. Especially if that moving object was named Brendan Smith. Jason Garrison and Jonathan Drouin made their playoff debuts tonight.
Game 5 will take place at Amalie Arena on Saturday at 6 pm.
(Feature Photo/Getty Images)
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