Lightning at Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock is heralded in hockey circles for his shrewd decisions, and he is drawing rave reviews for one of his most recent ones. Babcock selected Petr Mrazek to serve as his starting goaltender, and the 23-year-old looks to reward the veteran coach by pushing the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning to the brink of elimination when the Atlantic Division rivals play Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round series on Thursday.
After making a career-high 44 saves in a 3-2 victory in Game 1, Mrazek turned aside 22 shots in a 3-0 triumph over Tampa Bay on Tuesday to give the Red Wings a 2-1 edge in the series. "Huge win for us, first game home, first win. But it's over," Mrazek said after joining Earl Robertson (1937), Terry Sawchuk (1951), Chris Osgood (1994) and Jimmy Howard (2010) as the only rookie netminders in franchise history to record a postseason shutout. Tampa Bay has lost six straight playoff games on the road and been rendered powerless at Joe Louis Arena, posting a 4-16-0 record with one tie in the all-time series.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA, FSN Florida (Tampa Bay), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Steven Stamkos finished second in the league with 43 goals but has been limited to just two assists in his last four games. "Do I think Detroit's going to keep him down for the whole series? I don't," coach Jon Cooper said. "I think it's just a matter of time with him." For Cooper's sake, hopefully Ondrej Palat is in that boat as he has yet to record a point in the series after notching 63 in the regular season.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS: Pavel Datsyuk, who has collected two goals and an assist in the series, scored for the fourth time in five contests when he redirected Tomas Tatar's shot past Ben Bishop in Game 3. "He is better without the puck than he is with it, if you can imagine that," Babcock said of the Russian superstar, who was named one of the three finalists for the 2014-15 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. Datsyuk, who won the award from 2006-09, joins Calgary's Jiri Hudler and Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar as this year's finalists.
OVERTIME
1. Detroit LW Justin Abdelkader recorded an assist in his series debut after missing six games due to a hand injury.
2. Tampa Bay failed on all six power-play opportunities in Game 3 and is 2-for-17 in the series.
3. Red Wings C Riley Sheahan scored on Tuesday, marking his first point since his team's 3-2 win over Minnesota on April 4.