The Detroit Red Wings now have a 1-0 lead in their opening round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning after a 3-2 win Thursday night in Tampa.
Here are four takeaways from Game 1:
NOTE: Game 2 is 3 p.m. Saturday on Local 4/NBC
Petr Mrazek earned 1st career playoff win
Mrazek made his first career NHL playoff start a success, and the Red Wings sure needed him to do that. He made 44 saves -- 19 in the 3rd period. He was Detroit's best penalty killer not named Luke Glendening (get to him in a sec), and made some flashy, confident saves.
Lightning must feel frustrated
Tampa went 0-7 on the power play. They had the edge in shots (46-14), hits (38-25) and faceoffs (37-26). The Lightning were on the power play for more than 10 minutes. Mrazek was up to the challenge.
Ben Bishop only saw 14 shots spread out over 60 minutes. He was a non-factor in this game.
Pavel Datsyuk is Pavel Datsyuk, still
Datsyuk scored 2 goals on 2 shots, had 2 hits and, actually, 2 penalty minutes. He put in his usual world-class effort. He and Henrik Zetterberg, along with Darren Helm, were a strong forechecking line for the Red Wings. Helm had 3 shots on net. He and Datsyuk had 5 of the Red Wings' total 14 shots. The rest of the Red Wings forwards need to step it up.
Luke Glendening kills penalties, scores brilliant shorthanded goal
Glendening continues to be a vital part of this Detroit team. He does everything, including spin-o-rama backhand goals, shorthanded (game-winning). What better way to kill a penalty?
He also was credited with 3 blocked shots (feels like he had more). Overall, Glendening was on the ice for 18 minutes Thursday night -- that's 4th most among Red Wings forwards (Helm: 20:23, Datsyuk: 18:02, Zetterberg: 18:39) -- and 6:25 of that time was on the penalty kill.
Simply obvious: Detroit needs to spend less time on the penalty kill in Game 2. Given enough opportunities, Tampa will start to convert.
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Series schedule:
Game 2: Saturday at Tampa Bay, 3 p.m. (NBC)
Game 3: Tuesday at Detroit, 7 p.m. (NBCSN)
Game 4: Thursday, April 23 at Detroit, 7 p.m. (NBCSN)
Game 5: Saturday, April 25 at Tampa Bay, time and TV TBD
Game 6: Monday, April 27 at Detroit, time and TV TBD
Game 7: Wednesday, April 29 at Tampa Bay, time and TV TBD