DETROIT – Ondrej Palat scored with 2:59 left in the third period, lifting the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night and a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
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Goaltender Ben Bishop came up big in the clinching situation stopping 34 of 34 shots on goal.
The Lightning looked to grow their 2-1 advantage in last night’s match, and the Red Wings wished to extend the strength of their shutout to draw the series even.
“We had many chances but if you don’t score many goals, you won’t win games. It was my turn tonight”, Bishop said.
“…these guys have been scoring for me for the last three years, so I knew eventually it would come and I just had to keep (the puck) out of our net”. Killorn scored with only 1:43 remaining in the third period to take Tampa Bay to round two of the playoffs.
“It’s a great feeling”. He stoned Riley Sheahan and Helm on second-period breakaways, and aggressively challenged Justin Abdelkader’s big slap shot from the top of the circle early in the third period. That carried through the second period and then the Red Wings turned it on to start the third and seemed to be in control until Tampa’s third and final power play goal, the eventual game-winner.
Mrazek’s weak attempt to clear the puck into Tampa Bay’s right corner was intercepted by Lightning winger Ryan Callahan, who immediately threw it out front, where Killorn outmuscled Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall and beat Mrazek with a back-hander for the game’s only goal.
“It is always hard losing a game like that….”
“It’s frustrating”, Henrik Zetterberg said. “We have a chance to close it out but we expect them to be at their best”. The goalie interference call to Gustav Nyquist in the second period was an absolute joke. Dylan Larkin hit the post with a pretty backhand.
The Blackhawks had a 2-1 lead and momentum before Andrew Ladd was penalized for interference at 17:09 of the second.
Tampa Bay didn’t have much success against either team in the regular season, going 1-3-1 against Florida and 1-2 against NY.
Mrazek, who replaced Jimmy Howard after the Red Wings lost the first two games of the series on the road, finished with 23 saves.
The Tampa Bay Lightning worked on the power play for 30 minutes during Monday’s practice and center Tyler Johnson said it felt “like five hours”. When everything goes you just do stuff and it works out. And thats the judgment that we have to make beyond just the simple statistic that he was on the ice.
Pavel Datsyuk was held without a point as the Lightning defeated the Wings through five games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday. He said before the playoffs began that he planned spend time with his teenage daughter and play in Russian Federation…. If you like goals, no two teams have combined for more these playoffs.
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With the victory, the Lightning improved to 3-0 all-time in series in which they’ve had a 3-1 lead.
