Tampa Bay made a point of working on its power play after going 1 for 14 over the first three games of this series, including 0 for 3 in Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Joe Louis Arena.
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Propelled by yet another stellar night from goaltender Ben Bishop, who stopped all 34 Detroit shots thrown his way, it would be Bishop that found yet another way to best his Red Wings counterpart, Petr Mrazek, in the third and final goaltending duel of their first-round battle.
The Tampa Bay Lightning celebrate their 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings during Game 5 in a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday, April 21, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. “You don’t expect to go 3 for 5, and at some point special teams is going to affect a series”.
Datsyuk wasn’t ready to comment on his future in the National Hockey League directly after the game but he was thankful for all of the support he received in Detroit.
Nash still gave NY the lead early in the second period, but the Penguins seemed to take control when Crosby tied the game late in the second on a power play.
The Lightning coach said it reminded him of Game 7 in last year’s first round against Detroit, when Bishop had a 2-0 shutout.
ISLES ROOKIE OUT: Ryan Pulock did not travel to Florida with the Islanders for Game 5 against the Panthers, and coach Jack Capuano said the rookie defenseman is likely out for the rest of the first round. After seeing the penalty out, Nyquist quickly got the last laugh of the period, with only ten seconds left on the clock.
Jonathan Drouin and Nikita Kucherov led a lethal Lightning power play that struck the Red Wings for three goals in their 3-2 Game 4 win. Corey Crawford made 43 saves for the ‘Hawks, who still face a 3-2 deficit in the best-of-seven West quarterfinal series. They will host game five on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, for much of the game, Tampa Bay Lightning fans would find themselves screaming at the ice and pulling out their hair as a series of miscues would render the Lightning scoreless in the first two periods of play. “Once I saw that he was out of his net, I was just trying to gain position in front, knowing that if Cally could get it to me, I could probably put it in”.
“Opportunity lost”, Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg said.
“We’ve got guys (hurting)”, Cooper said.
The Wings have trailed 3-1 in a playoff series 20 times and have come back to win only twice – in 1987 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and in 1992 against the Minnesota North Stars.
Even with that production, there wasn’t necessarily a top-six role waiting for Drouin in Tampa Bay until blood clots sidelined Steven Stamkos. Will the Red Wings stave off elimination and do what the Chicago Blackhawks did to them a couple years ago? “We have to make sure we do a better job on the penalty kill and on the power play”.
“I’m not thinking about two days or how many days”, Datsyuk said.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2003-04 season.
