On Thursday night in Detroit, the Red Wings were minutes away from taking a two-game lead in their series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat scored goals 1:17 apart late I the third to force extra time where Johnson scored his second of the night and fourth of the 
series to send the two teams to Tampa knotted at two all.
“I don’t know how we got a 3-on-1, but we did,” said Johnson. “[Hedman] had the puck, and I was actually telling him to try and pass it to [Nikita Kucherov] in the high slot because I thought on a 3-on-1 you can get to the middle a little easier. He made an unbelievable play to me, and I was able to get enough on it to get it in there.”
The Lightning can feel grateful or fortunate for the turn of events but still need to solve the Red Wings’ ability to frustrate them.
“Never a doubt, was there?” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “No, I’m extremely fortunate to have coached Johnson and Palat in the minors and in the NHL. … Those guys took the game over in the last five minutes.”
Petr Mrazek made 26 saves in the loss.
Detroit got goals from Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson. In the second period to give the Wings a chance to take a 3-1 series lead on the road.
“I thought we played good,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we had them in big time trouble until Glendening got hurt. They got energized, and we didn’t
Game 5 is Saturday in Tampa.
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