Tampa Bay Lightning vs Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Preview
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Preview, Prediction, Team Comparison, X-Factors
Stanley Cup Playoffs will start on Wednesday at 7:00PM (EST) with the Tampa Bay Lightning vs Detroit Red Wings. The second/third place teams in the Atlantic Division are set to lock horns in what promises to be a long grueling series. One team (TB) is banged up with significant injuries, while the other (DET) claimed their postseason berth on the collapse of the Boston Bruins down the final stretch.
After extending their quarter-century Playoff streak (best in North American Pro Sports), the Red Wings received extra motivation/inspiration this past weekend with the announcement that Pavel Datsyuk is set to leave the NHL.
Injury Report (IR – Injured Reserve, DTD – Day-to-Day)
Steven Stamkos TB (IR) – Out indefinitely with blood clot
Tyler Johnson TB (DTD) – Upper body injury, expected to play game one
Victor Hedman TB (DTD) – Upper body injury, held out as precaution in final game, should be healthy for game one
Anton Stralman TB (IR) – Out indefinitely with non-displaced fracture left fibula
Ryan Callahan TB (DTD) – Sat out final regular season game with lower body injury, expected to play game one
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Detroit Red Wings: Team Comparison
Goaltending:
Petr Mrazek/Jimmy Howard (DET) vs Ben Bishop/Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB)
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Mrazek stumbled down the stretch for Detroit giving way to Jimmy Howard for extra minutes in the blue paint. The Red Wings likely turn to their young RFA Mrazek to begin the series, but Jeff Blashill may put the young goaltender on a short leash with a quality second option in wait.
Bishop and Vasilevskiy make for one of the best 1-2 tandems in the entire NHL. Bishop is coming off a Vezina quality season, and looks to shut the door with a mediocre defensive group like he’s done all year long.
Advantage: Tampa Bay Lightning
While Mrazek possesses elite potential with an ability to steal games, Bishop has developed into one of the game’s best. Little to worry about with the 6’7 giant standing between the pipes.
More puck prose: NHL Offseason Goals For Every Team
Defense:
Even if Tampa Bay’s Anton Stralman were healthy, this team would still have question marks on the blueline. He had 34 points in 73 games before injury, ranking second behind Victor Hedman who led all TB d-men with 47 points.
Without their second best defender (points and time-on-ice) out, Andrej Sustr is the next most productive blueliner with 21 points. Jason Garrison put up 11 points, Braydon Coburn with 10, while Matt Carle and Nikita Nesterov sit tied for sixth with nine points.
If you want to look at things with a glass half full attitude, it’s worth noting that Garrison, Coburn, and Carle have all proven themselves capable of being productive d-men in recent years. Can one of these guys step up in Stralman’s absence?
When the Detroit Red Wings signed Mike Green last summer, the hope was that he could step in and provide stability that was lacking on the back-end – particularly the ability move the puck and create offense. Management was likely hoping for more than seven goals and 35 points, but it is his first year with the franchise.
It was largely a down year for Niklas Kronwall, who posted an atrocious -21 plus/minus rating, which is -16 differential from his previously worst posted -5 in 2012-13. Beyond the Wings top three defensemen, there’s a noticeable drop-off in talent.
Detroit was once known as a team that could break out of their own zone with ease, and were largely considered the NHL’s most dangerous team in transition – those tags have virtually disappeared.
The transition to a younger core brings with it added mistakes – it’s a growing process getting these kids acclimated to think as quickly as the fast NHL game unfolds in front of them.
Advantage: Detroit Red Wings
If healthy, the two defensive groups would rank near one another somewhere in the middle to bottom half of the NHL. Given TB’s injury outlook, Detroit has the advantage on the blueline.
More puck prose: Pavel Datsyuk Set to Leave NHL
Offense:
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Pucks and Pitchforks
For the past couple of seasons Tampa Bay was the NHL’s most potent offense – that fizzled in 2015-16. Now, the Lightning are forced to play without their captain and superstar forward Steven Stamkos.
If TB has any hope of knocking off their divisional foe, they’ll need players such as Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, and Tyler Johnson to step up.
With it being Pavel Datsyuk’s last hurrah, teammates should have more than enough motivation to give it their all, plus more. The Red Wings are built strong through the top nine, and will look to an obvious cast of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Tatar, Nyquist, among others to carry the load.
Hard to believe this cast of forwards finished the season with only 211 team goals for (a -13 differential with 224 goals allowed).
Advantage: Tampa Bay
The Red Wings have more overall talent healthy for this series, but the Lightning are built 12-men deep. If you match these teams line-for-line, TB edges their opponent just slightly.
More puck prose: Stanley Cup Playoffs: Goaltending Question Marks
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Detroit Red Wings: X-Factors
Mike Green DET – Outscoring the opponent is the objective, and a little extra offense from the back-end can be a difference maker.
Dylan Larkin DET – The highly responsible two-way rookie looks poised to step into Datsyuk’s very large shoes, and he will have his first opportunity to prove himself capable against TB.
Jonathan Drouin TB – While most of the attention will be on the big three (Palat, Kucherov, Johnson), the player to keep a close eye on is Drouin. If one forward can be a difference maker for the Lightning, it’s him.
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Prediction:
Tampa Bay Wins Series 4-3