While the Detroit Red Wings are thankful for the effort put forth by goaltender Petr Mrazek in Game 3, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper feels his play wasn't even warranted.
Related: Mrazek perfect as Red Wings cut series deficit
The Lightning failed to take a 3-0 stranglehold on the series Sunday, instead getting shut out 2-0. The team's 16-shot effort left Cooper visibly bitter post game.
"I don't know if they needed a goaltender tonight to be honest," Cooper said, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. "We just came in to play a hockey game.
"Will wasn't there."
With the team's lead in the series now cut to just one game, Cooper understands his team missed out on a large opportunity.
"It went from us pinning them up against the wall, to now it's a series," Cooper said. "I'm not so sure there myself, their coach or anybody in this room was thinking this would be a sweep.
"Now it's a series."
The Red Wings will have the chance to square the series up at 2-2 when the teams return to action on Tuesday.
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DETROIT - Andreas Athanasiou and Henrik Zetterberg scored, Petr Mrazek made 16 saves and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Sunday night.
Related: Watch: Red Wings' Athanasiou follows up brilliant near miss with opening goal
Detroit cut its deficit to 2-1 in the first-round series. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena. Game 5, which is now necessary, will be at Tampa Bay.
After brawling late in the last game, gloves were dropped, fists flew and there were piles of players on the ice when the Game 3 ended.
Related: Watch: Boyle taunts Abdelkader with chicken dance
Ben Bishop made 28 saves for the Lightning, who had their top line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn shut down after the trio combined for six points in the first two games of the series.
Kucherov scored first in each of the first two games, while Killorn and Johnson scored the tie-breaking goals in the third periods.
Detroit's rookie coach, Jeff Blashill, benched goaltender Jimmy Howard for Game 3 and put Mrazek in net. The move seemed to work, though, as the Red Wings' swarming defense and backchecking forwards limited Tampa Bay's shots on net.
At the other end, the Red Wings kept Bishop much busier.
Athanasiou, a rookie, scored his first career playoff goal midway through the second period on a one-timer from the left circle that fluttered between Bishop's stick on the short side.
Zetterberg, in his 13th postseason, crashed the net late in the second period and was credited with a goal that appeared to go off his left skate. The goal stood after a video review and a challenge from Lightning coach Jon Cooper.
Blashill made another decision that paid off by putting Brendan Smith, who had been a healthy scratch since March 26, in the lineup instead of Kyle Quincey in the lineup. Smith used his right shoulder to put Cedric Paquette on his back early in the game. Smith, an agitating player, also drew another penalty late in the game.
Tampa Bay went on the power play for the first time late in the second period and got a second opportunity to have an extra skater early in the third, and failed to take advantage of the chances to pull within a goal.
Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, who said he plans to retire from the NHL after the playoffs, was called for tripping with 5:40 left and his teammates prevented Tampa Bay from making the most of the opportunity.
The Lightning pulled Bishop to add an extra skater with 2:28 left, but had to put him back in next 11 seconds later because Braydon Coburn was called for interference for hitting Smith, who didn't have a stick as he tried to push him away from the net.
Mrazek didn't have to make many saves, but he made enough to shut out the high-scoring Lightning. He had two shutouts against them last year, pushing the series to a Game 7 before being eliminated with a 2-0 loss.
NOTES: Lightning F J.T. Brown missed the game with an upper-body injury. ... Detroit D Alexey Marchenko was knocked out of part of the game after getting checked into the glass by Vladislav Namestnikov and needing stitches to repair a cut on his forehead.
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Brian Boyle spared Justin Abdelkader when the horn sounded on Game 3, and he wasn't offered permission to whale on the Detroit Red Wings agitator. (Funny, Mike Blunden didn't appear to authorize the attack he endured in Game 2). But Boyle wasn't going to let Abdelkader get away without a little embarrassment.
So, Boyle went to the well, busting out the one-legged chicken dance as he exited the ice following the shutout loss.
Abdelkader, who had his hands taped (which would be illegal in a fight) as a result of the brawl in Game 2, told Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that the coaching staff instructed him not to indulge Boyle.
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Officials in the @SamsungCanada Situation Room had a tough time deciding if this was offside. #CloserToTheGamehttps://t.co/6X7xWrUt6i
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 18, 2016
Jack Capuano brought a goal back for the New York Islanders in Game 3 on Sunday night, successfully contending that Jonathan Huberdeau brought the puck in offside before Aaron Ekblad scored the Florida Panthers' third goal.
After breaking it down with another frame-by-frame review, it was determined that Huberdeau's back foot crossed the blue line before the puck entered the zone as the rubber rattled between his skates.
(Courtesy: MSG/NBCSN)
Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders soon after, cutting the lead to one, but the Panthers would score their third goal just moments after.
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The first playoff goal of young Athanasiou's career is teed up and blasted. #TBLvsDET #StanleyCuphttps://t.co/hv8XDBOR7d
— #StanleyCup Playoffs (@NHL) April 18, 2016
Andreas Athanasiou would not be denied.
The Detroit Red Wings forward opened the scoring in Game 3 with his first career playoff goal after pounding a one-timer past Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.
The goal came late in the second period, and could have been the 21-year-old's second of the game had he made good on a ridiculous spin-o-rama effort in the first period.
Andreas Athanasiou pulled a double spin move that put Jason Garrison on his knees https://t.co/EvsT23jQJ2
— The Cauldron (ICYMI) (@CauldronICYMI) April 17, 2016
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Though their composition entered largely unchanged, Corey Crawford sees an entirely different opponent in the St. Louis Blues.
"Whatever happens in the season, whatever's happened in years before, they're not the same team," the Blackhawks netminder said after their 3-2 loss to the Blues on Sunday.
And he's right. Because after every major decision went in their favor in a slim 3-2 victory in Game 2, the defending champs should be considered fortunate to be down 2-1 to a team that's won one postseason series over the last five tournament bids.
But what is it, exactly, that's the difference for a team looking to shake its label as Western Conference doormats?
So far, it's not an offense with six goals in three games. You wouldn't hang it on a total team defense allowing 37 shots per outing. And while Ken Hitchcock's mild reaction to Vladimir Tarasenko's series-altering wiped-out goal in Game 2 relayed confidence, his focus on the team totaling 70 hits ostensibly crosses off the possibility of a new, progressive style.
Really, the only discernible difference so far has been the spectacular play of Brian Elliott, and his numbers through three games that tower over what Ryan Miller and Jake Allen were able to provide the previous two seasons.
| Year | Goalie | Starts | Save Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Elliott | 3 | 0.963 |
| 2015 | Allen | 6 | 0.904 |
| 2014 | Miller | 6 | 0.897 |
For what it's worth, Miller's forgettable save clip came in a six-game defeat to the Blackhawks.
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The Chicago Blackhawks have lost just once in regulation when leading into the third period over the last two seasons.
Regrettably, that failed conversion just happened in Game 3 of their first-round series against the St. Louis Blues.
Patrik Berglund and Jaden Schwartz's goals scored a little more than eight minutes apart in the third period of Sunday's matinee sullied an incredible 70-0-4 run in games in which Chicago led after 40 minutes in the previous two seasons.
Chicago's last blown lead came in another critical juncture - Game 2 of the 2014 Western Conference final versus the Los Angeles Kings.
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Hockey fans are in luck, as it appears the Stanley Cup Final has come early.
The St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks are through just three games of the opening round, but the intensity of three one-goal contests has begun to mimic something much greater.
"This feels very much like a Final and it's the first round," Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Both teams are laying it out there."
The Blues used a third-period rally Sunday to top the Blackhawks 3-2, something the head coach wasn't surprised to see from his club.
"We've come back so many times," Hitchcock said, according to The Athletic Chicago's Scott Powers. "It doesn't seem to be a problem with this group."
That's the Blackhawks’ first regulation loss when leading after two periods since the Western Conference final in 2014.
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) April 17, 2016
Unfortunately for both clubs, the winner will still have to endure three more grueling series before they can lay claim to Lord Stanley. Game 4 of the thrilling quarterfinal matchup goes Tuesday.
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