Mrazek shutout gives Wings series lead

Petr Mrazek stood in front of his net after the game and waited for a delighted swarm of red jerseys to come greet him.

So far this postseason, the Red Wings have been as successful as their young goaltender — and twice in three games, he has played well enough to win.

Mrazek made 22 saves for his first postseason shutout, and Pavel Datsyuk, Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening scored for Detroit in a 3-0 victory over the Lightning on Tuesday night that gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead in their playoff series.

“He played great,” Red Wings forward Drew Miller said. “Maybe (Game 2) didn’t go the way he wanted it to, but we’ve got to help him out a little more on some of those goals that went in. We knew he’d come out like tonight, ready to go and be on his game.”

Mrazek, 23, was coach Mike Babcock’s choice to start in this series instead of Jimmy Howard, and the youngster has acquitted himself well in his postseason debut.

After being outshot badly in the first two games at Tampa Bay, the Red Wings were able to contain the high-scoring Lightning.

“I thought we were way better,” Babcock said. “I thought we skated and looked like a real hockey team.”

Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader returned from a hand injury and assisted on Sheahan’s power-play goal in the third. Capitals 2, Islanders 1: Nicklas Backstrom scored 11:09 into overtime to lift the Capitals and even their first-round playoff series against the Islanders at 2-2.

Alex Ovechkin also scored and assisted on the decisive goal, which came off a faceoff to the right of the Islanders’ net. Backstrom dug the puck out in the right corner and worked his way up the boards.

He snapped a shot near the blue line that went through a crowd and sneaked inside the far post.

Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders. The series shifts to Washington on Thursday for Game 5.

It was the second consecutive overtime game. John Tavares scored 15 seconds into the Islanders’ 2-1 win on Sunday.