Lightning at Red Wings
After squandering a late two-goal lead to even the series after four contests, the Detroit Red Wings responded with a resounding victory to push the Tampa Bay Lightning to the brink of elimination. The Red Wings can lower the boom on Monday, when the Eastern Conference first-round series returns to Joe Louis Arena for Game 6.
Petr Mrazek, 23, continued his storybook run by recording his second shutout of the series with a 28-save performance in Saturday's 4-0 triumph. "We have been playing well, we played well in Game 3 (a 3-0 win on Tuesday) and Game 4 (3-2 overtime loss on Thursday) outside of the last five minutes," Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "... Now, we have to continue to play our game and try to finish it out." Tampa Bay, which led the league with a franchise-best 259 goals during the regular season, has scored 10 in the series - with five coming in a lopsided victory in Game 2.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CNBC, CBC, TVA, FSN Florida (Tampa Bay), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Captain Steven Stamkos scored a team-leading 43 goals during the regular season but has been limited to just two assists in the series. "I'm working hard and competing, but it's just not going my way," Stamkos said. "I have to do better. No one said it was going to be easy." Tyler Johnson leads the club with four tallies - two each in Games 2 and 4.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS: Pavel Datsyuk recorded his team-leading fourth point (three goals, one assist) by joining Riley Sheahan in scoring on the power play in Game 5. Sheahan's opening tally with 23 seconds remaining in the first period extended his point streak to three games, during which he has scored two power-play goals and added an assist. Zetterberg also set up a goal to extend his assist streak to three games.
OVERTIME
1. With his next victory, Detroit coach Mike Babcock would pass Toe Blake (82) for eighth place on the league's all-time postseason wins list.
2. Tampa Bay failed on all three power-play opportunities in Game 5 and is 2-for-24 in the series.
3. Red Wings LW Justin Abdelkader recorded a team-high nine hits in 17 minutes of ice time on Saturday.