Datsyuk pair gives Red Wings opener
TAMPA, FLA.— Pavel Datsyuk scored twice and Petr Mrazek had 44 saves in his NHL playoff debut to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference series Thursday night.
Datsyuk scored on two of the first four shots the Red Wings got against Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop. Luke Glendening’s short-handed goal gave Detroit a 3-1 lead early in the third period.
Mrazek, named Detroit’s starter for Game1over veteran Jimmy Howard, gave up a short-handed goal to Brian Boyle in the first period and a late goal to Nikita Nesterov that enabled the Lightning to pull within 3-2.
Tampa Bay outshot the Red Wings 46-14, but went 0-for-7 on the power play — failing to even get a shot off on the final opportunity in the closing seconds of the game.
PERREAULT SITS: Winnipeg forward Mathieu Perreault was forced to sit against his former team when the Jets took on the Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Thursday night.
Perreault skated at the end of practice Wednesday and then for a short time Thursday, testing out what the team is calling a lower-body injury. He did not take part in line rushes and left the ice after saying something to a team trainer.
“He skated (Thursday),” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We’ll see how he comes back tonight and make a decision then.”
Injured April 9 against Colorado, Perreault missed the regular-season finale and has not taken part in a full practice since.
Perreault missed 20-regular season games with injuries but still put up18 goals and 23 assists after leaving the Ducks for a bigger role in Winnipeg.
“He’s put up some big numbers for us at key times in the season,” veteran centre Jim Slater said. “He’s great on the power play, he’s great on the wing whatever line he plays with.”
The Ducks were expected to be without injured forward Nate Thompson, but the rest of their lineup was the biggest possible with Bruce Boudreau hoping to counteract the Jets’ size.
Defencemen Clayton Stoner and Simon Depres were in over James Wisniewski.
Boudreau praised the six-foot-three Stoner as “the best defenceman on the ice” in Minnesota’s firstround series a year ago and expected him to match up well against the Jets along with partner Sami Vatanen.
“He rises to that occasion and has in the past,” Boudreau said of Stoner. “He’s a physical player and we’re playing against a big, physical team. It seems like a natural fit for him to be a good player for us.”