Lightning Rally Past Red Wings, 3-2, In OT To Tie Series

DETROIT (AP) — Tyler Johnson led a stirring Tampa Bay rally late in regulation, then scored 2:25 into overtime to lift the Lightning to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night, evening their playoff series at 2-2.

The Red Wings led 2-0 in the third period before Johnson scored with 5:26 remaining. He then assisted on Ondrej Palat's tying goal 77 seconds later.

Early in the extra session, defenseman Victor Hedman led an odd-man rush from the right side and slid the puck across the goal mouth. It deflected ever so slightly off goalie Petr Mrazek, but Johnson was able to shoot into an open net from a tough angle for his fourth goal of the series.

Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson scored in the second period for Detroit. Andersson's goal came in fluky fashion when goalie Ben Bishop knocked it in off the crossbar.

Mrazek is the only goalie who has shut out Tampa Bay this season, doing so late in the regular season and in Game 3 of this series. He was blanking the Lightning again until Johnson skated in on the left and beat him to the short side to make it 2-1.

Then Johnson centered a perfect pass from the right that Palat only needed to redirect past Mrazek to tie the game with 4:09 remaining.

The opening goal came after Detroit's Justin Abdelkader found Henrik Zetterberg bearing down on the net, and the Red Wings' captain patiently slid the puck to Nyquist for a tap-in from in front.

The Red Wings were more lucky than good on their second. Andersson's shot bounced routinely off Bishop and up in the air, but when Bishop tried to bat the puck away with his stick, he instead accidentally knocked it back off the crossbar.

[MORE: Fluky Bounce Gives Red Wings Goal In Game 4 [VIDEO]]

The puck fell to the ice and slowly slid across the goal line, with defenseman Jason Garrison unable to clear it.

After Detroit's two goals in the second, the Lightning were able to increase the pressure toward the end of that period, but Mrazek was up to the task.

His counterpart, meanwhile, became more frustrated early in the third. That's when Bishop was called for a tripping penalty, to the delight of the Detroit crowd.

But the Red Wings didn't score on that power play. And although a scrap near the glass with 7:28 remaining seemed to indicate that Tampa Bay might be losing its cool, there was still enough time remaining for the high-scoring Lightning to come back in dramatic fashion.

NOTES: Garrison returned after missing the first three games of the series with an upper-body injury. ... Bishop had 22 saves, and Mrazek had 26. Johnson's goal was the only shot on goal of the OT.

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