Red Wings shut out Lightning in Game 3
By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – Jeff Blashill found himself a working lineup Sunday evening for Game 3.
After his team fell behind 2-0 in their series with Tampa Bay, the Red Wings head coach shuffled his lines and it paid dividends in Game 3, as Detroit topped the Bolts, 2-0.
Petr Mrazek started for the Wings and earned the shutout. Andreas Athanasiou scored his first NHL playoff goal and what turned out to be the game-winning marker, while Henrik Zetterberg added another.
“I thought we did a good job from the start of the game right on through, on both sides of the puck,” Blashill said. “I thought we were good defensively, good offensively. As I said coming into this, I didn’t think it was significant differences. I thought we had done a lot of good things through two games, but not enough plays defensively and not enough plays offensively, and tonight I thought we were real complete.”
MORE: PHOTOS: Red Wings beat Lightning 2-0 in Game 3
Mrazek only saw 16 shots, but he turned away all of them.
“Those are hard on goalies, when you’re not seeing as many shots and you get a big opportunity, he makes the save,” defenseman Brendan Smith said. “That’s a good goalie, that’s what we need, and he helped us out there.”
The trio of Luke Glendening, Riley Sheahan and Justin Abdelkader proved to be a formidable shut-down line against Tampa’s most productive line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn. The Lightning line was held to zero shots on goal and additionally collected 18 penalty minutes.
“Glenny did a terrific job last year on that line when we matched them, I think he makes it really hard,” Abdelkader said. “He wins a lot of face-offs, is good defensively. I think me and Sheahan just try to fill the void there on the walls and fill the spaces and make sure when we get pucks, we skate, we get pucks in. We’re not trying to make too many plays, just keep it simple, keep the plays in front of us. I think we’re a line that, once we get in the offensive line, can hang onto pucks, be heavy, be hard on those guys and I think we need to continue that. We’re at home again, we get the matchups we want, it can really be a good thing for us.”
Smith dressed in his first game of the series over Kyle Quincey, and he made his impact felt early, laying a big hit on Tampa Bay’s Cedric Paquette in the Detroit corner in the opening minutes. Smith finished the game a plus-one, with three hits and two blocks and helped in shutting down Tampa’s top guns.
“They’re gonna show up a lot harder, just how these games go, been in a couple series and every game gets amped up more,” Smith said. “Guys like Kucherov, Killorn, Palat, Johnson, they’re gonna bring their game more. We have to up it, we have to up the ante so we make sure we don’t give them as much shots.”
Blashill on AA’s move: “That spin move was nice, real nice. If that would’ve gone in, it would’ve been unreal.” pic.twitter.com/6b6Po5rc8i
— Stefan Kubus (@StefanKubus) April 18, 2016
After making a highlight-reel move in the opening frame, Athanasiou got on the scoresheet with just over seven minutes to play in the second stanza. From the corner, Joakim Andersson fed Athanasiou at the top of the left circle and his one-timer beat Bishop on the short side to give the Wings the 1-0 lead.
“He was great tonight, you could tell from his first shift he was really skating,” Glendening said of Athanasiou. “He’s got a special skill set and just an outstanding player for us.”
Late in the period, Zetterberg gave Detroit a 2-0 advantage. A loose puck popped out toward the slot and as Zetterberg was crashing the net, the puck ricocheted off his skate and in the goal. After review, it was confirmed there was no distinct kicking motion. And after a challenge by Tampa on goalie interference, the goal still stood.
From then on out, Mrazek and the Red Wings’ defensive effort continued to keep the Lightning at bay. With 2:17 remaining, Braydon Coburn took an interference minor after roughing it up with Smith in front of the Red Wings goal. To keep Smith from retaliating, Mrazek grabbed Smith and held him back.
“That was more or less to get those two minutes at the end there, try to seal the game,” Smith said. “Mrazek was on his toes, he grabbed me and we just took it from there.”
But like Game 2, Game 3 ended in a heated brawl. Abdelkader picked up his second consecutive 10-minute misconduct penalty. Tampa’s Brian Boyle tried getting Abdelkader to fight and made a chicken gesture when he would not fight.
“I got a little banged up from the last fight and a few injuries previously,” Abdelkader said. “I would’ve [fought], but my hands were taped and if I draw blood or anything I get a misconduct for us, asked the ref and obviously aware of that, so I understand I’ve got to stand up for myself for plays, but I’ve got to be smart, too, and I don’t want to take myself out of the series. He can do or say whatever he wants to say, but I’m just gonna continue to play my hockey, play hard, be physical and hopefully win some games.”
Blashill said that he told Abdelkader not to fight because of how valuable he was to them on the ice.
“I told him going into the game I didn’t want him to, first of all through the 60 minutes because he’s too valuable of a player for us. That was my instruction to him. Obviously there are other reasons why, too, but obviously Abby’s an extremely valuable player on our hockey team, want to make sure he’s on the ice playing for us as much as possible.”
Game 4 is set for Tuesday night at The Joe.