The Lightning certainly came out with more bounce in their step Thursday night in Detroit, two nights after their woeful season-opening performance.
And it took them getting punched in the face — literally — to bring out the fight that the back-to-back Stanley Cup champs still possess.
The Lightning were down by three goals three separate times, but forced overtime and won 7-6 on Ondrej Palat’s goal 2:43 into the extra session.
Trailing 6-3 in the third period, Ross Colton scored with 6:17 remaining. Nikita Kucherov scored on the power play with 3:35 left, and Alex Killorn’s putback on 6-on-5 with 2:19 remaining tied the score.
Down 4-1 in the second period, the Lightning scored twice within a 72-second stretch, both from captain Steven Stamkos on the power play. Stamkos’ goals came after Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin landed a right-handed sucker punch to Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph’s face because he didn’t like the way Joseph hit him into the boards, prompting a fight that sent Larkin to the Detroit locker room with a match penalty ejection and two Lightning players to the penalty box.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper stewed behind the bench, unable to comprehend how such a play would result in the Lightning having to defend a 4-on-3 Red Wings power play. And 49 seconds into that man advantage, Detroit went up 4-1 on Tyler Bertuzzi’s third goal of the game with 7:31 left in the period.
But once the Lightning had the man advantage three minutes for the remainder of the five-minute penalty assessed to Larkin, they came to life with their best hockey of this young season.
Over their past two Cup runs, physicality and fisticuffs brought out the best in them, and it was clear they began to channel their anger on the ice Thursday.
Drifting toward his office in the left circle, Stamkos scored on a one-timer from the high slot, then filled the net on a snipe from below the left circle.
