Simashev's OT Winner Caps Utah's Stunning Four-Goal Comeback

Dmitri Simashev scored twice — including the overtime winner at 1:44 of the extra period — as Utah erased a 4-2 deficit to beat Tampa Bay 5-4. The defenseman's wrist shot in overtime, assisted by Barrett Hayton and Karel Vejmelka, completed one of the more dramatic reversals you'll see this early in a season.

Tampa Bay looked like the team that had this game locked up through 25 minutes. Jake Guentzel opened the scoring at 5:10 of the first — unassisted, his seventh of the year — and that early lead set the tone for a dominant first period. Utah answered quickly through Kailer Yamamoto at 7:02, but Tampa responded with back-to-back goals: Pontus Holmberg's snap shot at 10:06, then Brayden Point's backhand at 12:42 off a feed from Nikita Kucherov — Kucherov's tenth assist of the season. Dylan Guenther pulled one back for Utah at 17:39 with a slap shot, but Tampa still led 3-2 heading to the second. Conor Geekie extended it to 4-2 at 5:32 of the second, and at that point it looked like Utah was cooked.

Then Utah flipped the script entirely. Anders Lee tipped one home at 14:39 — assisted by MacKenzie Weegar and Vincent Trocheck — to make it 4-3. Less than three minutes later, at 17:02, Simashev snapped home his first of the night off assists from Andrew Peeke and Trocheck to tie it at four. Trocheck finished with two assists on the night, and the story of the night was clearly how Utah's second unit found another gear when the game was slipping away. The two goals in under three minutes of the second period were the turning point in every practical sense, even if the score-margin data technically flags Guentzel's opening goal as the largest single swing.

In overtime, Simashev ended it at 1:44 with a wrist shot — Vejmelka picking up an assist on the play, which appears to reflect a puck-moving sequence out of the defensive zone. Vejmelka himself was solid all night: 29 saves on 32 shots, allowing 4 goals. Dennis Hildeby stopped 23 of 28 for Tampa. The numbers are close, but Utah's goaltender made the saves that mattered when the game was tied and the pressure was highest. Tampa outshot Utah 32-28, and on paper this looks like a game they should have closed out. They didn't. Simashev's two-goal, overtime-winning performance is the kind of night that looks like a breakout moment — whether it actually is one, only time will tell.