Lighting Flies Past Red Wings, 5-1, in Game Two
(photo: Lisa Gansky)
The Tampa Bay Lightning notched the series equalizer Saturday as they rolled past the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1, on home ice.
It was a game of physicality with the Lightning battling hard, finishing checks and finding the puck first that resulted in a brawl early in the game. Brian Boyle and Danny DeKeyser of the Wings got into a scrum on the ground while Steven Stamkos put Kyle Quincey in a headlock.
Tyler Johnson registered two goals in the game, first on a power play that resulted from the brawl to take the 1-0 lead. The Lightning scored again three times in the second period to secure the win with goals from Alex Killorn, Andrej Sustr, and Johnson to make the score 4-0.
Detroit’s lone goal came from Tomas Tatar, assisted by Quincy and Gustav Nyquist to keep Bolts netminder Ben Bishop from capturing the shutout.
Valtteri Filppula would make the score 5-1 on the power play in the third period, securing the win. The Bolts outshot the Wings 30-24.
The series is now tied at one a piece, after the Bolts fell 3-2 on Thursday.
“We were frustrated we didn’t win that game,” said Johnson. “We thought we played well enough to do that and we just didn’t. I think the guys, we wanted to step up our game even more and I thought tonight we played a pretty good game.”
Bishop notched his first post-season win with the 23-save effort between the pipes.
“I felt a lot better than I did last game,” Bishop said. “I was a little bit nervous last game and today a lot better, night and day almost.”
Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper is looking for the Bolts to continue to convert their solid play into W’s on the score sheet.
“I thought we were pretty good in Game 1,” said Cooper, who earned his first playoff victory in two-and-a-half seasons behind the Bolts bench. “We continued with that, and I think we’ve played two pretty solid games. I’d like to see us coming out 2-0, but it’s 1-1 and that’s better than 0-2.”
Game 3 will be in Detroit at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
