Cyborg Yzerberg
Registered User
By the way, this team went 34-38-8.
Series is tied at 0-0
Killorn-Johnson(?)-Kucherov
Palat-Filppula-Drouin
Brown-Pacquette-Callahan
Blunden-Namestnikov-Boyle
Hedman-Carle
Garrison-Sustr
Coburn-Nesterov
Bishop
Vasilevskiy
• The Detroit Red Wings accomplished their goal of extending the longest active playoff streak in North American sports to 25 seasons. Now, they hope to avoid extending a streak within a streak. The Red Wings have lost in the first round of the playoffs for two straight years, something they've only done one other time during their 25-season run in the postseason. They lost to Toronto in the first round of the 1993 playoffs before getting knocked out in the first round the following season by San Jose. Last year, they were eliminated by Tampa Bay after getting bounced by Boston two years ago. The Red Wings have never lost in the first round three straight times during their 25-season streak.
• This marks the fifth straight year the Red Wings have opened the playoffs on the road. They haven't kicked off the postseason at Joe Louis Arena since 2011, when they swept the Coyotes in four games before losing a seven-game series to Anaheim in the second round. The only first-round series they've won in the last four years was in 2013, when they beat Anaheim in seven games. This is third straight year and ninth time in franchise history the Lightning have opened the playoffs at home. They're 1-7 in the opening game of a first-round playoff series that began in Tampa.
• Gustav Nyquist led the Red Wings with two goals during four-regular season games vs. Tampa Bay. ... Kyle Quincey and Henrik Zetterberg both had a team-leading three points vs. the Lightning after getting one goal and two assists. ... Goaltender Jimmy Howard, who will start Game 1 tonight, had a 2-1 record, 2.14 GAA and .925 save percentage in three appearances vs. the Lighting during the regular season.
• Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherv led both teams during the regular-season series with three goals, all on the power play. His five points were also the most on either team. ... Tyler Johnson, who had three two-goal games in last year's series vs. the Red Wings, had one goal and three assists against Detroit in the regular season. ... Goalie Ben Bishop had a 2-2 record, 1.77 GAA and .931 save percentage in four regular-season appearances vs. the Red Wings.
• The Red Wings had a 17-3-1 record when scoring first during the regular season and were 7-22-1 when trailing after 40 minutes. ... Tampa Bay was 19-5-0 when leading after the first period and 2-20-1 when trailing after two. ... Neither team went roaring into the playoffs. The Red Wings had a combined record of 9-10 in March and April, when Tampa Bay was 9-6-1.
• No Tampa Bay player has appeared in more playoff games than forward Valtteri Filppula, who will be playing in his 136th career postseason game tonight. His first 105 playoff games were with the Red Wings before he signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent in 2013. He helped the Red Wings win the 2008 Stanley Cup.
• During the regular season, the Red Wings were 13th on the power play with an 18.8-percent success rate. Pavel Datsyuk led the Red Wings with eight power-play goals. Tomas Tatar and Nyquist had seven apiece. ... Tampa Bay was 28th on the power play at 15.8 percent. Steven Stamkos led the Lightning 14 power-play goals but he's out for the season after undergoing surgery for a blood clot. Kucherov had nine power-play goals. ... The Lightning were seventh in penalty killing at 84.0 percent. Ondrej Palat and Brian Boyle both had two of Tampa Bay's seven short-handed goals. ... Detroit was 14th in penalty killing at 81.5 percent. Riley Sheahan and rookie Andreas Athanasiou scored the Red Wings' only short-handed goals.
• Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill calls Tampa Bay counterpart Jon Cooper one of his best friends dating back to their days in junior hockey and the minor leagues. But tonight will mark the first time their teams have squared off in a playoffs series. Blashill will be coaching his first Stanley Cup playoff game while Cooper has a 14-16 postseason record in three previous seasons with the Lightning. Cooper led the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago before losing to the Blackhawks. Blashill coached the Grand Rapids Griffins to the 2013 AHL championship one year after Cooper led Syracuse to the Calder Cup.
• Zetterberg ranks fourth in all-time playoff scoring among active players. He has 56 goals and 63 assists in 132 career postgame games. Datsyuk is seventh with 42 goals and 71 assists in 152 games and Brad Richards is ninth with 60 goals and 43 assists in 141 games. No Tampa Bay player ranks among the top 10. Florida's Jaromir Jagr leads all active players in postseason scoring with 78 goals and 121 goals in 202 games.
• On this date in history, Bill Lochead scored the winning goal for the Red Wings in a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Flames to complete a 2-0 sweep in the 1978 best-of-3 opening round series. The Red Wings lost a five-game series in the second round to Montreal, which went on to win the third of four straight Stanley Cups. The 1977-78 Red Wings included current radio broadcaster Paul Woods.
http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index...ameday_detroit_look_2.html#incart_river_index
And to Datsyuk, the number 1 song of 1991:
Do it for Pasha:
But above all else,
LEGGO RED WINGS! JUST WIN!
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