Tampa Bay edged Detroit 4-3 in overtime for its 50th win, as Nikita Kucherov starred and the Lightning locked in a first-round playoff series vs. Montreal.

The Tampa Bay Lightning grabbed a 4-3 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night, but nobody inside the room seemed interested in pretending it was a clean performance. Tampa Bay still got what mattered most: its 50th victory of the season, a big night from Nikita Kucherov, and official confirmation of a first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs matchup with the Montreal Canadiens.

For long stretches, the Lightning looked in control. They answered an early Detroit goal with a breakout moment from Conor Geekie, whose first goal of the season helped settle the game. Geekie said, “Just don’t lose the puck was kind of the thought. I’ve seen Kuch do it 1,000 times, and figured I’d try it. And like I said, lucky enough, it went in.”

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Jon Cooper loved what he saw from the 21-year-old. “This might have been his best game he’s had with us since he’s been up, and he was really moving his feet. I thought, actually, their whole line was pretty good for most of the night,” Cooper said. “But as you can see when he got that breakaway and he was pulling away, he has that in his game. He’s just getting more mature as a player, and he just had command of himself. He didn’t play a ton, but he was really good when he was out there.”

Tampa Bay built its edge in the second period when Erik Cernak scored after Ryan McDonagh’s patient setup. “I was hoping for that,” Cernak said of the pass. “He showed great patience with the puck there. Nobody covered me, and I just put that one in. That was a great play by Mac. I was kind of shocked he was down there with me, but a great play and we got a goal out of it.”

Jake Guentzel added another, and Kucherov kept piling up numbers. He finished with a goal and an assist, giving him 44 goals and 129 assists on the season, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves.

Then things got messy. Detroit erased a two-goal deficit in the third, exposing the exact kind of late-game issues Tampa Bay can’t afford to carry into the postseason. “Definitely not ideal. You’re winning by two goals in the third period, they tie the game and we just kind of gave them those two goals,” Cernak said. “We just have to be better in those situations when we have a lead, and especially now in the playoffs.”

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In overtime, though, the Lightning stars took over. Vasilevskiy stopped Alex DeBrincat, Kucherov and Brayden Point broke the other way, and Kucherov buried the winner 27 seconds into OT. Geekie summed it up well: “There’s so many good players in this room that can end the game. Vas obviously made a big save in overtime, and Kuch and Pointer kind of did their thing. But I think from top to bottom we weathered the storm, and again, we got the extra point.”

Cooper added, “You need guys like that to show up for you when you really need it most.”