Tampa outburst spoils Petr Mrazek's historical bid
Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek looked to be on the verge of history through the first two periods of Thursday night's Game 4 between the Red Wings and the Lightning. The goaltender, who struggled at the end of the regular season, looked great in the postseason and was 20 minutes away from becoming the first rookie since 1937 to record back-to-back shutouts in the NHL playoffs. The feat would have been even more impressive considering his opponent, Tampa Bay, had one of the best offenses in the NHL in the regular season.
But it's hard to keep a good offense down for long, and Mrazek and the Detroit defense fell just short of history when the Lightning potted two goals in a 1:17 span with less than six minutes remaining in the game. So Mrazek had to settle for an admirable 174:34 minutes of shutout hockey at Joe Louis Arena instead of the historical back-to-back shutouts.
According to Tampa coach Jon Cooper, Tampa's goals after such a lengthy drought gave the Lightning some much-needed confidence.
"We had gone probably eight periods without scoring a goal in this building but as soon as we got that one, we grew a couple inches on the bench," Cooper said in his post-game press conference. "It was like a weight off our shoulders and clearly the game changed at that moment when we scored that goal. You could just tell our guys had a fire in them that was not gonna be put out."
(h/t Detroit Red Wings)
Photo by Rick Osentoski - USA Today
