Marco Kasper almost singlehandedly kept the Detroit Red Wings’ faint playoff hopes alive on Friday.
The rookie tied the game late in the third period and then scored at 3:20 of overtime to lift the Red Wings past the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 at Amalie Arena.
The win, coupled with Ottawa’s 5-2 victory over Montreal, prevented Detroit from being mathematically eliminated from the postseason chase.
The Red Wings (37-35-7, 81 points) still have a colossal task, needing to win their final three games, at least two of them in regulation, and have the Canadiens (39-31-9, 87 points) lose their last three in regulation.
Detroit can be eliminated as early as Saturday if Montreal gains at least one point in Toronto.
The Red Wings ended a two-game skid when Kasper scored his 18th goal of the season by snapping a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy with 1:40 left in OT.
Kasper tied it at 3-3 with 7:01 remaining in the third period. He took a pass from Alex DeBrincat during a two-on-one and snapped a shot past Vasilevskiy.
Moritz Seider fired two shots off the crossbar in the final two minutes of regulation with the game tied.
Gage Goncalves scored twice for the Lightning (45-26-8, 98 points).
Goncalves snapped a 2-2 tie at 1:38 of the third period. The Red Wings turned the puck over just outside of their blue line, leading to a quick transition for Tampa Bay and Goncalves capitalized on a defensive breakdown to break in alone and snap a shot past Alex Lyon.
Goncalves tied it at 2-2 with a bizarre goal at 17:52 of the second. He flipped the puck into the zone, it took a couple of weird bounces while spinning through traffic and went in through Lyon’s pads.
The Red Wings got goals from Patrick Kane and former Lightning Tyler Motte to take a 2-1 lead in the second period.
Kane notching his 21st of the season by snapping in a loose puck near the slot at 4:07. Motte scored his fourth at 16:37, cleaning up around the net after a rebound off the back boards got caught up in Vasilevskiy’s skates.
Anthony Cirelli opened the scoring at 1:01 of the first period by splitting the defense on the rush and beating Lyon on a breakaway.
The Red Wings host Dallas on Monday in their final home game (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).
