Red Wings-Lightning Game 7 preview

The Tampa Bay Lightning, who owned the best home record in the league during the regular season, hope to exploit that advantage when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Look back: Red Wings game 7s since 1991

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA2, FSN Detroit, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)

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Home ice has not been a factor in the latter part of the matchup, with the road team winning the last three contests -- including Tampa Bay's 5-2 victory on Monday that staved off elimination.

"We basically had two choices to make," Lightning forward Tyler Johnson said after Game 6. "Either give up or come out swinging. I felt that, with our backs against the wall, we came out swinging."

Johnson landed the biggest blows, scoring twice to stake Tampa Bay to a three-goal lead from which Detroit could not recover. The Red Wings now face the dubious task of winning a Game 7 on the road without star defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who received a one-game suspension from the NHL on Tuesday for charging Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov. They'll also be without veteran defenseman Marek Zidlicky, who reportedly suffered an injury in Game 6.

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"No team's been able to win two games in a row thus far in this series," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "So let's go to Tampa."

ABOUT THE RED WINGS:

Tomas Tatar scored both goals for Detroit in the Game 6 loss, but captain and leading scorer Henrik Zetterberg's second-half swoon continued -- he does not have a tally in the series and registered only three goals in 30 games after the All-Star break. The Red Wings featured the league's second-ranked power play during the regular season and have scored five goals with the man advantage in the series, but they converted only 1-of-7 opportunities in Game 6.

"We've got to be better," said forward Gustav Nyquist, who scored 14 of his 27 goals this season with the extra skater. "We did a lot of good things drawing those penalties, but we've got to be able to capitalize more."

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING:

Johnson recorded his third two-goal performance of the series to tie St. Louis' Vladimir Tarasenko with a league-high six tallies in the playoffs and help offset the lack of production from captain Steven Stamkos, who has yet to find the back of the net after finishing second to Washington's Alex Ovechkin with 43 tallies during the regular season.

"I want to be a guy that can step up and chip in," Stamkos said Tuesday. "Obviously, tomorrow would be a good time for that."

While Kucherov will be remembered for being on the wrong end of Kronwall's thunderous check, he also collected three assists Monday -- on the Lightning's first three goals - after being limited to one point over the first five games.

NOTES:

1. Tampa Bay lost two straight at home only once this season - on Dec. 6 and Dec. 9.

2. The Red Wings have killed off 15 straight power-play chances for the Lightning.

3. Johnson is the only player in franchise history with three multi-goal efforts in one playoff series.

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