Mrazek Shines In First Playoff Game, Helps Red Wings Grab Series Lead
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Goaltender Petr Mrazek got thrown into the fire Thursday, starting in net over veteran Jimmy Howard in the first game of the playoff series against the heavily favored Tampa Bay Lightning.
Mrazek responded as well as Detroit could have hoped, making 44 saves and playing a major role as Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the series with a 3-2 victory.
"Tonight's a good win, and Mrazek stood tall for us," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock told reporters Thursday in Tampa, "and we can all get better, which is a real positive thing."
Mrazek said he got into a groove early in the game because he saw 10 shots in the first period.
"It always helps you," Mrazek said. "First five minutes they shoot from everywhere and it hits you, so it's a huge part of the game that they didn't score in first five minutes."
Mrazek saw 17 more shots in the second period and 19 in the third.
Overall, Babcock was pleased with what he saw from the team and from Mrazek in particular.
"We took seven penalties, so obviously we were in the box a lot," Babcock said. "They had lots of rubber on the net. I thought our D really boxed out well. I thought our forwards boxed out well, and we found lots of loose pucks for Petr, but I thought he did a good job playing the puck and stopping the puck and giving us an opportunity to be up 1-nothing in the series.
"In the end we like to pick up our goalie when he doesn't play good," Babcock said, "and we like for the goalie to pick us up when we're not as good."
The teams meet again in Tampa on Saturday, and then the series will come to Detroit.
