DETROIT – Ondrej Palat scored with 2:17 left in overtime, elevating the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 7-6 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored a career-high four goals, including three in the second period, to help the Red Wings take a three-goal lead three times.
Tampa Bay rallied from each time, including late in the third period when Ross Colton, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn scored within four minutes to make it 6-6.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who were beaten 6-2 in their opening game by Pittsburgh, rallied to avoid opening a season with two losses for the first time since 2009.
Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay stopped 20 shots. Alex Nedeljkovic made 41 saves for the Red Wings.
Detroit sold out its first home game and gave its fans plenty of reasons to cheer, even collapse, and perhaps to be optimistic about a team that hasn’t earned a playoff spot since 2016.
Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin scored the first goal of the game early in the first period. Larkin’s night ended midway through the second period with a match penalty for retaliating to Mathieu Joseph’s check from behind against the boards by punching him in the face.
After Bertuzzi’s hat trick gave Detroit a three-goal lead in the second, Steven Stamkos scored twice in the period to cut Tampa Bay’s deficit to 4-3.
Bertuzzi scored his fourth goal at the start of the third and Vladislav Namestnikov scored a goal midway through the period to give the Red Wings a three-goal cushion that wasn’t big enough.