Detroit 3, Tampa Bay 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, April 16, 2015
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Referees:
Frederic L'Ecuyer, Chris Rooney
Linesmen:
Tim Nowak, Steve Barton
Attendance:
19204
By The Sports Xchange
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning, which had the NHL's best home record in the regular season, opened the playoffs with a home loss Thursday night.
Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk scored twice to lead the Red Wings to a 3-2 win at Amalie Arena.
The Red Wings, seeded third in the Atlantic Division, won just one of four regular-season meetings with the Lightning but took the playoff opener despite being outshot 27-10 in the first two periods.
Detroit took a chance by starting Petr Mrazek, 23, in goal over veteran Jimmy Howard, 31, but Mrazek played superbly, making 44 saves.
The Red Wings opened a 3-1 lead early in the third period on a short-handed goal. Center Luke Glendening tracked down a loose puck deep in the Tampa Bay end, made a spin move to beat center Valtteri Filppula, then fired a backhander from behind past goalie Ben Bishop.
Tampa Bay pulled within one with 11:34 left after defenseman Nikita Nesterov scored his first career playoff goal. But he missed on a power play shortly after -- the Lightning finished 0 of 7 with the man-advantage, including a six-on-four for the final 12.8 seconds.
NOTES: The Lightning got three key players back from injury for Thursday's playoff opener. D Braydon Coburn returned after missing 14 games with a foot injury, D Andrej Sustr was back after missing six games with an upper-body injury, and C Alex Killorn played after missing three games with an undisclosed injury. The only Tampa Bay player still ailing is D Jason Garrison, who missed his seventh game with an upper-body injury. ... Lightning rookie LW Jonathan Drouin and D Mark Barberio were healthy scratches. ... Detroit LW Justin Abdelkader missed a 12th straight game with an upper-body injury, and G Jonas Gustavsson (head) and LW Erik Cole (upper body) remained sidelined. The Red Wings scratched D Brendan Smith, D Jakub Kindl, RW Daniel Cleary and LW Teemu Pulkkinen.
Top Game Performances
Detroit |
|
Tampa Bay |
Pavel Datsyuk 2 |
Points |
Brian Boyle 1 |
Pavel Datsyuk 1 |
Goals |
Brian Boyle 1 |
Darren Helm 2 |
Assists |
Ryan Callahan 1 |
Tomas Jurco 1 |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
Luke Glendening 1 |
Short Handed Goals |
Brian Boyle 1 |
Petr Mrazek .957 |
Save Percentage |
Ben Bishop .786 |
Petr Mrazek 44 |
Saves |
Ben Bishop 11 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Detroit
|
14 |
3 |
1-3 |
7-7 |
14 |
26 |
Tampa Bay
|
46 |
2 |
0-7 |
2-3 |
8 |
37 |
Upcoming Games
-
Tampa Bay will play their next game at home against Detroit. The Lightning have a W/L % of .560 after a win and .688 after a loss.
-
Detroit will play their next game on the road against Tampa Bay. The Red Wings have a W/L % of .488 after a win and .564 after a loss.