2011 7th round draft pick Ondrej Palat scored two goals on Saturday night to help his Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 4-2.

After losing four of their previous five games, the Lightning headed into tonight’s game desperately needing a win. Thanks to Palat’s heroics and some strong play from injured goaltender Ben Bishop, Tampa was able to grab two very important points. The win gives the Bolts a seven point cushion on the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and keeps them in second place in the Atlantic Division for the Olympic break.

While the Lightning did eventually win the game, it was the Red Wings who opened the scoring. At the 17:18 mark of the first period, Daniel Alfredsson found himself free of coverage in the slot and fired the puck past Bishop for the 1-0 lead. Credit the veteran forward for finding a soft spot, but the Lightning need to have better coverage on a play like that. On too many occasions this year, simple breakdowns have ruined otherwise decent efforts. Thankfully that wasn’t the case on Saturday.

Ondrej Palat scored his first of two goals of the night early in the second period with the Lightning on the power play (!). Assisted nicely by Marty St. Louis and Victor Hedman, Palat followed up on his own rebound and potted the puck past Jimmy Howard to knot things up at one. Since being named Rookie of the Month for January, Palat hasn’t slowed down a bit. He currently sits third in league scoring among rookies. That’s simply phenomenal.

Tomas Jurco and Tom Pyatt traded backhand goals in the second half of the middle frame to send the game into the second intermission tied at two. Deuces were truly wild.

Rather than allow the impending Olympic break to distract them from the task at hand, the Lightning went out in the third period and scored two goals to secure a very important victory. That’s exactly what good teams do. Alex Killorn scored the game winning goal with about three minutes left in the game, and Palat scored an empty-netter only moments later. Textbook.

In his post-game comments, Jon Cooper indicated that Ben Bishop was in some pretty severe pain throughout the contest. Even so, the Lightning goaltender was nothing short of spectacular. He stopped 31 of 33 shots fired his way, and looked every bit like the Vezina-contending goalie Lightning fans have come to know this season. Given all the injury troubles that he’s dealt with over the last few weeks, the Olympic break couldn’t come at a better time.

It’s worth noting that Saturday’s win kept the Lightning’s perfect record against the Red Wings this season intact. It’s a pretty remarkable feat when you consider just how much the Wings have been able to dominate Tampa over the years. I can’t explain it, so I won’t even bother trying. Just know that being perfect against a division rival could have big implications in the standings come season’s end.

The last point I’ll make before signing off is that Vladislav Namestnikov looked relatively good in his NHL debut. Playing on a line with former Syracuse linemates Nikita Kucherov and JT Brown, Namestnikov didn’t look out of place. That line was the Lightning’s only good possession line on the night, and it generated a number of quality scoring chances. I’ve said this many times before, but I’ll say it again. The future is very bright for Tampa Bay.

With two weeks off, many Lightning players now have a chance to rest up and prepare for the stretch drive. Some, on the other hand, will be on their way to Sochi to compete in the Winter Olympics. I wish each and every single member of the Lightning family who is heading over to Sochi the best of luck. Hopefully they can come home with some hardware to show off!

As always, thanks for reading.