Tampa Bay 5, Detroit 1
When: 3:00 PM ET, Saturday, April 18, 2015
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Referees:
Justin St. Pierre, Wes McCauley
Linesmen:
Michel Cormier, Greg Devorski
Attendance:
19204
By The Sports Xchange
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning bounced back from a home loss Thursday in a big way, getting two goals from center Tyler Johnson on the way to a 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday at Amalie Arena.
They tied their first-round playoff series at 1-1. The series now heads to third-seeded Detroit for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Thursday. The teams split two games there during the season.
Tampa Bay, the second seed in the Atlantic Division, pulled away with three goals in the second period Saturday, sending goalie Petr Mrazek to an early exit.
The five goals were the most allowed by the Red Wings in a playoff game since 2010.
Lightning goalie Ben Bishop, who gave up three goals in the Game 1 loss, stopped all 18 shots in the first two periods and finished with 23 saves.
Having outshot the Red Wings 46-14 in a 3-2 loss on Thursday, the Lightning had nearly the opposite result Saturday, building a 4-0 lead after two periods while being matched on shots, 18-18.
The Lightning jumped out to a 1-0 lead only 3:05 into the game, sparked by a large fight that sent Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos and two other players to the penalty box.
Only 28 seconds into the power play, defenseman Nikita Nesterov fired a long shot that bounced off the right post and straight to Johnson, who fired the rebound past Mrazek for the first goal of the game.
Tampa Bay's power play struggled in Thursday's playoff opener, giving up a short-handed goal and going 0-for-7 in 10:13 of ice time with the extra man.
The Lightning went 1-for-1 in the opening period Saturday, while stopping the Red Wings in their two first-period power plays.
Mrazek, who made 44 saves in Thursday's win, couldn't find any of the same success in net, and Tampa Bay led 2-0 midway through the second period after center Alex Killorn got a loose puck in front of the net, missed initially, then poked the puck around the post and past Mrazek as he went down.
Right winger Ryan Callahan set up the shot with his second assist of the postseason, with Stamkos getting his first.
The third goal came with 5:12 left in the second, with center Valtteri Filppula firing a perfect pass to advancing defenseman Andrej Sustr for his first goal of the postseason.
Johnson scored his second goal of the game on a breakaway to beat Mrazek for a 4-0 lead with 38 seconds left in the period.
Detroit got on the scoreboard with 14:11 left in the third, as left winger Tomas Tatar beat Bishop on a rebound of a long shot by defenseman Kyle Quincey. It was Tatar's first goal of the playoffs.
Tampa Bay added a goal with 4:34 left from Filppula, who got a putback off his miss to beat goalie Jimmy Howard, who took over for the final period.
NOTES: The teams fielded much the same lineups as Game 1 on Thursday night, as the Lightning got three players back from injuries for in game -- D Braydon Coburn, C Alex Killorn and D Andrej Sustr. The only remaining injury for Tampa bay is D Jason Garrison, still out because of an upper body injury. ... Tampa Bay's healthy scratches were LW Jonathan Drouin and D Mark Barberio. ... Detroit remained without LW Justin Abdelkader, out since April 5 because of a hand injury, as well as G Jonas Gustavsson (concussion) and LW Erik Cole (spine). Healthy scratches for Detroit were D Brendan Smith, D Jakub Kindl, RW Daniel Cleary.
Top Game Performances
Detroit |
|
Tampa Bay |
Tomas Tatar 1 |
Points |
Tyler Johnson 2 |
Tomas Tatar 1 |
Goals |
Tyler Johnson 2 |
Gustav Nyquist 1 |
Assists |
Nikita Nesterov 2 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Tyler Johnson 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Jimmy Howard .917 |
Save Percentage |
Ben Bishop .958 |
Petr Mrazek 14 |
Saves |
Ben Bishop 23 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Detroit
|
24 |
1 |
0-4 |
2-4 |
12 |
29 |
Tampa Bay
|
30 |
5 |
2-4 |
4-4 |
12 |
23 |
Upcoming Games
-
Tampa Bay will play their next game on the road against Detroit. The Lightning have a W/L % of .560 after a win and .688 after a loss.
-
Detroit will play their next game at home against Tampa Bay. The Red Wings have a W/L % of .488 after a win and .564 after a loss.