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It took over 58 minutes, but off the stick of Alex Killorn, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s defense of their Prince of Wales crown from a season ago has marched its way to the second round of the playoffs.
Propelled by yet another stellar night from goaltender Ben Bishop, who stopped all 34 Detroit shots thrown his way, it would be Bishop that found yet another way to best his Red Wings counterpart, Petr Mrazek, in the third and final goaltending duel of their first-round battle.
And this was a game where the Lightning leaned heavily on the play of Bishop.
In a second period headlined by three different Red Wings breakaways and several odd-man rushes towards the Tampa Bay net, all of which added up to a 14-to-6 shot advantage for the Wings in the middle frame, Bishop stood tall as ever, and kept this game scoreless through 40 minutes of play.
It would stay that way for almost all of the third, too, until Mrazek made the ever-dangerous decision to play the puck behind his net with less than two minutes to go.
That’s when Lightning winger Ryan Callahan saw the opportunity to pressure the Detroit netminder in a different kind of way and straight-up rushed Mrazek from behind.
As Mrazek didn’t get all of his attempted pass, Callahan got the puck to the front of the net, where Killorn, part of the Lightning’s three-headed monster that’s devoured Detroit matchups all series long, connected for a redirect goal in a net-front battle against Red Wings defender Jonathan Ericsson.
With the victory, the Lightning improved to 3-0 all-time in series in which they’ve had a 3-1 lead.
Random thoughts and notes
- Ben. Freaking. Bishop.
We’ve really lauded the play of the 6-foot-7 netminder since Day 1 of the campaign -- and even longer, actually -- but No. 30 really did save his best of the season for this five-game series. In five games, the Colorado native stopped 152-of-160 shots against, good for a superhuman .950 save percentage.
Bishop was stellar in this one, too, and really frustrated the hell (and fight) out of the Red Wings.
- It probably wasn’t the first thing that came to your mind, but the second Killorn scored to put the Lightning up 1-0, I thought, “Holy cow, this is the final 1:43 of Pavel Datsyuk’s NHL career.… Expected to retire from the NHL and/or head back to Russia and play in the KHL, the 37-year-old Datsyuk didn’t have an immediate answer regarding his future after the loss, and understandably so, but if this was the last the league has seen of Datsyuk, boy, did the Lighting really hold the Magic Man in check.
In five games, Datsyuk went without a point in spite of 18 shots on goal.
The Bolts are one of many teams that won’t necessarily miss going against Datsyuk, as the shifty forward has recorded seven goals and 16 points in 15 career regular-season games against Tampa.
- The only way it could have been better for the Lightning would have been if this series were a sweep. But five games is perhaps the best case scenario if you’re a realist, and now comes time to rest. That’s welcomed for some of the Bolts’ heavier lifters -- like a Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Cedric Paquette, and Victor Hedman -- and allows injured guys like J.T. Brown, Anton Stralman, and yes, even Steven Stamkos, a little bit more time to recover and draw closer to a return to the lineup. (For the record, Stamkos, whose optimal recovery would probably put him back in action around the Stanley Cup Final if the Bolts make it that far, is obviously the least likely to return.)
Up next
The Lightning will take on the winner of the first-round series between the Atlantic-winning Florida Panthers and first wild card New York Islanders. That series is currently tied 2-2. Neither have been a particularly great matchup for the Bolts this season, though, as the Lightning won just one won five regular season games against the Cats, and one of three with the Islanders.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.