Red Wings fall behind early, drop Game 6 to Lightning
By @SKubus –
DETROIT – The Red Wings fell behind early Monday night at Joe Louis Arena, and that ultimately sealed their fate.
Tyler Johnson scored a pair for Tampa Bay in Game 6, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-2 Game 6 victory and forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 in their first-round series with Detroit.
Tomas Tatar scored both of the Red Wings’ goals, but after pulling his team to a 3-2 deficit, two late goals from the Lightning finished off Detroit’s opportunity to win the series on home ice.
“We made big mistakes,” Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. “Tampa’s a team that scores when you give them opportunities… Any way you look at it, they can play like that. We can’t play like that, because they’re that skilled and they can score like that. We’ve got to get our mind right and get ready for a Game 7.“
Photos by Jen Hefner/MiHockey
Now, in a series in which no team has won back-to-back games, it heads back to Tampa Bay for a decisive Game 7. That game will take place on Wednesday night, with a scheduled puck drop of 7:30 p.m.
The red-hot Johnson opened the scoring 3:47 into Game 6, using his speed to break to the outside and roof a shot past Mrazek much like he did late in Game 4.
Jason Garrison then finished off a beautiful passing play as the Lightning entered the Detroit zone at 11:10 to put the Bolts ahead by a pair. That’s how things bleakly stood for Detroit after the opening 20 minutes.
“We gave them two goals early,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Turnovers and mistakes cost us and I think after that we worked ourselves into the game.”
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said his team had more space to move, simply because they were better prepared to play.
“We skated,” Cooper said. “That’s what changed. We were moving, and we executed.”
Less than three minutes into the second stanza, Mrazek kept his team in the game with the save of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Brian Boyle. Vladislav Namestnikov first outmuscled his man in the Detroit zone to the right of Mrazek before feeding an isolated Boyle in front. All alone, Boyle deked to his backhand, pulling Mrazek out of his net to the left, then brought it back to his forehand for a seemingly open net. But Mrazek kept his stick stretched out across the net and made the save out of mid air when it looked impossible.
He wasn’t done there, either. Minutes later, Mrazek came up with another incredible save, this time on Stamkos all alone on the back door. That not only kept his team in the game, but the crowd, as well.
“The one there when Boyle had a breakaway, that was a huge save for us,” Zetterberg said. “He plays well, and we all know it, we all see it. He gives us a chance to win every night, and that’s what we need.”
At 9:09 of the period, seconds after he tripped up Brendan Smith, Stamkos maintained possession and mailed a pass up to Johnson, who broke in on a mini-breakaway and tallied his second goal of the game to extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-0.
After Detroit failed to convert on an abbreviated 5-on-3 later in the period, they were sure to strike on the remaining 5-on-4 powerplay. Tatar worked a give-and-go with Niklas Kronwall across the Tampa Bay zone before slinging home a wrist shot from the right circle to make it a 3-1 game.
Just before the middle period came to a close, Kronwall laid one of his patented brutal hits on Nikita Kucherov, sending the Lightning forward’s helmet flying. There was no call on the check, but replay revealed that Kronwall caught Kucherov a bit up high, a hit that will undoubtedly be looked at by the NHL. That sent the 20,027 on-hand into a roaring frenzy, but Tampa Bay skated off with the 3-1 lead.
Early in the third period with both teams playing 4-on-4, Tatar tallied his second of the game, using some fancy footwork and stick-maneuvering to put his second of the game home through the five-hole of Bishop. And right after pulling to within one, the Red Wings went to the powerplay for a golden opportunity, but failed to convert.
Killorn then put the Lightning ahead 4-2 at 14:51 with a backbreaker of a goal, blowing past the Detroit defense and roofing a backhander over Mrazek.
An empty-netter from Cedric Paquette increased the Lightning lead to 5-2 with 57 seconds remaining in the final period of play, sealing Game 6 and forcing Game 7 on the road.
“You’ve always got to play a 10 minute game and a 50 minute game on the road in the playoffs,” Babcock said. “In other words, you have to get settled down in the first ten minutes and then you have to get on with playing.”