Heartbreaking: Bolts Halt the Red Wing Rebellion

Despite winning game 3 to take a 2-1 lead this was a must win for the Wings. A win would give them three chances to put Tampa away, but a loss forces them to win another game on the road to advance. After the game 3 loss, Tampa changed things up by going with 11 forwards and 7 D to protect themselves in case the previously injured Garrison could not finish the game. The full lineup chances are Drouin coming in for Namestikov and Morrow is scratched for Garrison. With these changes it will be interesting to see the matchups tonight, 11 forwards means TB’s lines will be consistently changing making it tougher for Babcock to lock in on Stamkos or the Triplets.

The game started out very tight as both teams completely locked down the neutral zone. The result was a lot of dump and chase hockey and not many great chances for either team. TB got the first chance on the man advantage but didn’t get much until Mrazek and Ericsson had a miscommunication behind the net. Thankfully, Mrazek scrambled back in time to clean up his mess. With 6 minutes left Kronwall dove in from the left point and worked a give and go with Nyquist for a great chance. Tampa answered right back with a 3-2 that forced Mrazek to take away a scoring chance from Filppula. On the PP with 2 minutes left in the period Datysuk found some space in the slot but Bishop was able to blocker it away to keep the period scoreless. This was the period we expected to see this series, a very tight game in which TB held a slight territorial advantage.

Only 6 minutes into the 2^nd the Wings struck first thanks to a beautiful tick-tack-toe play from Abdelkader to Zetterberg to Nyquist, 1-0 Wings. During a Red Wing’s PP just a few minutes later, TB missed on a shorthanded 2-1, right before the post stymied Abby on a great chance. Bishop took down Nyquist giving the Red Wings a short 5-3 advantages but while the Wings got a couple chances they could not get the puck to sit down. With under 8 minutes to go Glendening made a great move on a 2-2 to get a scoring chance but Bishop kept the Wings lead 1-0. Off the ensuing faceoff, Zidlicky hammered a slap shot through a screen that rang off the post. With 5 minutes left the Wings got a wonderful bounce as a harmless shot from Andersson was bobbled by Bishop who knocked the puck into his own net for a 2-0 Detroit led. Tampa got a few chances late but Mrazek and the defense were up to the challenge to preserve the two goal lead heading into the third.

The Wings did a good job early to not sit back in the defensive shell, the third line did a great job of generating offense when they were able to go up against Tampa’s depth lines. Throughout the third the Red Wings had a number of chances but just couldn’t finish the game. With 8 minutes left an icing forced Babcock to use his timeout to rest Datsyuk’s line but Pavel won the ensuing draw to escape danger. With 5:26 left in the third Tyler Johnson singlehandedly pulled Tampa back into the game with a beautiful move to the inside and a snipe over Mrazek’s shoulder, 2-1 Detroit. With the energy on their side Tampa struck again just over a minute later as Johnson threw a pass in front and Palat was able to put it pass Mrazek to tie the game at 2 and send it to overtime.

Just 2 minutes into overtime, Tyler Johnson wins it for the Bolts by finishing of a 2-1 opportunity. Now tied 2 games a piece the Red Wings have quite the mountain to climb if they hope to advance to the 2nd round.