Tampa Bay Lightning Ties Series With 5-1 Win Over Detroit

Game two of the first round playoff series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Detroit Red Wings became pivotal for the home team after dropping the opener on Thursday night.

I heard and read a lot of reactions by fans that ran the gamut of emotions from mild concern to fear to absolute terror for our Boys in Blue. Not to worry. The Lightning beat the Red Wings this afternoon by the score of 5 to 1 to even up the series at a game apiece.

There was little doubt that the Red Wings would come out stronger than they did in game one. Yes, they won that game, but they were dominated in just about every aspect of that game. So, when Brian Boyle was called for an elbowing penalty as he was fighting for position in front of Detroit goalie, Petr Mrazek 31 seconds into the game, the sellout crowd at Amalie had to hold their collective breath.

Here was the number two power play in the NHL, getting an opportunity in the first minute of the game and Tampa’s best penalty killer going into the box for two minutes. After living up to their regular season power play numbers by going 1 for 3 on Thursday, the Wings were stopped cold today. They had four opportunities with the man advantage in game two and failed to score each time.

Meanwhile, the power play of the Tampa Bay Lightning which was held scoreless in seven chances in game one brought it today. They scored the first goal of the game at the 3:05 mark of the first period, when Tyler Johnson wristed a shot pass Mrazek off a rebound from a Nikita Nesterov blast.

This power play was a result of a rugby scrum that broke out a few seconds after Boyle served his two minute elbowing penalty. Steven Stamkos and Kyle Quincey were called for roughing with Quincey earning an extra two minutes. Boyle and Danny DeKeyser both received two minutes for roughing at the same time. Just a note on this chippiness, Stamkos had Quincey in a headlock that was WWE worthy yet somehow Quincey got the extra two minutes leading to the power play chance capitalized on by Johnson.

The one goal lead is how the second period began. While the Lightning was not dominating play as they did in game one, they seemed to be winning the puck possession time but Detroit was winning the faceoff battles and the hits and shots were just about even.

Seven minutes into the period, Ryan Callahan was leading a rush up ice and as he entered Detroit’s zone, an attempted pass by Callahan went off the skate of young Red Wing defender Alexei Marchenko and bounced right to Alex Killorn who was all alone in front of Detroit’s net. Killorn flipped a shot over the leg of Petr Mrazek for a 2 to 0 lead for Tampa.

At the 14 minute mark, Andrej Sustr fed Vladislav Namestnikov on a beautiful two line pass just as he entered the Red Wing zone. Namestnikov back flipped the puck to Valtteri Filppula who began to take the puck along the sideboard. Filppula withstood a very hard hit from Wings forward, Tomas Jurco without losing the puck and skated towards the back of the net. Eyeing a streaking Sustr, Filppula fed him at the precise moment that Sustr was all alone in front of an out of position Mrazek. Biscuit in the basket and Bolts were up 3 to 0.

They were not done as Tyler Johnson sped past three Detroit defenders to go in by himself on Petr Mrazek for his second goal that put up the Lightning 4 to 0. That is how the middle period finished. That is also how Mrazek’s day ended.

After saving 44 of 46 shots in game one, Mrazek fell down to earth in game two and was pulled after two periods having given up 4 goals in 18 shots. Ben Bishop also rebounded from his awful game one performance by stopping 24 of 25 shots.

Tomas Tatar deflected a pass five minutes into the final period to put the visitors on the board but it was too little, too late. Also, Filppula added a late power play goal to finish the scoring at 5 to 1.

The series is now tied at one game apiece. As the teams head to Detroit for the next two games, let us take a look at where we are. Coach Jon Cooper won his first and certainly not his last NHL playoff game. Bishop also won his first and definitely not his last NHL playoff game. The Lightning maintained their high level of play and won their first playoff game in their last six. I smell a trend.

There was no doubt that Detroit would step up their game and not only did the Lightning withstand this, they beat the snot out of Detroit. We now have a playoff series, folks. Game three is Tuesday night at the Joe.

Next: Tyler Johnson Fires A Rebound Past Petr Mrazek

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