David Perron is closing in on his 36th birthday, a late age for a professional athlete, but he just demonstrated why the Detroit Red Wings are interested in keeping him.

"Just prior to scoring my goal," Perron said after delivering the game-winning goal Monday, "we saw that the Flyers tied it up with 10 seconds to go. I was so fired up. We needed to find a way right away."

Perron's goal broke a 2-2 tie and propelled the Wings to a much-needed 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Wings (37-30-8) were off Tuesday, with their next game not until Friday against the New York Rangers. Monday's two points kept the Wings within striking distance of moving inside the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

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General manager Steve Yzerman said at the trade deadline that he would make decisions on the team's pending unrestricted free agents — a group that includes Perron and Patrick Kane — after the season, when Yzerman has a clearer picture of just how much it will take to extend his restricted free agents, a group headlined by Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond.

Yzerman brought in Perron in the summer of 2022 on a two-year, $9.5 million deal, attracted by a resume highlighted by leading the St. Louis Blues to the 2019 Stanley Cup championship.

Perron is prone to taking hooking and holding penalties because he has slowed with age, but that's offset by respectable production (15 goals, 38 points in 69 games), durability (if he plays the remaining seven games, the only ones he will have missed this season are the six he served during a suspension in December; he appeared in all 82 games last season), and leadership. He's an emotional juggernaut determined to get the Wings into the playoffs.

His enthusiasm is sometimes so vocal it raises eyebrows, like at the start of January when he told everyone in the locker room after a victory at the Sharks that the Wings would get 20 points that month. Coach Derek Lalonde overheard and later shared that he thought, "Has he not watched us lately?' Like, there’s no way we’re getting 18 points." (They did.)

Perron's leadership — he's an alternate captain — has an impact, as he does the drive he showed in connecting on Seider's shot to redirect it into Tampa's net with 2:40 to play in regulation. it was Perron's second goal and third point of the five-game road trip, coming at a crucial time.

It's why, at a lesser salary, the Wings are likely to make a pitch to Perron to keep him around for one more season.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her @helenestjames.

Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Detroit Red Wings' David Perron should return despite age