Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Petr Mrazek provided a terrific bounce-back performance, stopping all 22 shots fired his way to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
The 23-year-old netminder stopped six shots during the first period, nine in the middle stanza and seven more in the final frame for his first career postseason shutout.
Pavel Datsyuk scored an early goal, Riley Sheahan lit the lamp on the power play during the third and Luke Glendening provided a late empty-netter for the Red Wings, who seized a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Ben Bishop allowed all three goals on 21 shots for the Lightning, who went 0- for-6 on the power play.
The series will resume Thursday with Game 4 at Joe Louis Arena.
On an early power play in the third, Henrik Zetterberg drove up the right side and sent the puck to a streaking Justin Abdelkader. Sheahan took a pass from Abdelkader, cut across the crease and showed patience before tucking a backhander past a sprawled Bishop at 6:42 for a 2-0 Wings lead.
Moments later on another Detroit power play, Brian Boyle, who scored a short- handed goal in Game 1, raced down the ice on a breakaway after forcing a turnover at the blue line, but had his low shot cooly kicked aside by Mrazek.
Bishop was pulled with over a minute to play. Mrazek made a quick kick save on Ondrej Palat in tight. The rebound trickled right to Nikita Kucherov, who fired the shot wide.
Glendening sealed the win by sending the puck down the ice into the vacated cage with 49 seconds to play.
The Red Wings treated the fans in their packed home venue to an electric start, providing several quality scoring chances before breaking through on the scoresheet.
Datsyuk entered the offensive zone and quickly dished the puck off to Tomas Tatar, who fired a shot from the blue line that deflected off a driving Datsyuk and beat Bishop high for a Detroit lead 8:46 into the game.
Tampa Bay had its chances in the second period, but could not solve Mrazek. Defenseman Victor Hedman rang a shot off the post from the left circle on the power play at 5:22. The Lightning went on a two-man advantage for 56 seconds less than a minute later and Tyler Johnson one-timed a shot off the crossbar from the same spot.
Game Notes
Mrazek also shut out the Lightning with a 23-save performance in a 4-0 win on March 28 ... Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson supplied two assists ... Abdelkader returned to the lineup after missing five games with a hand injury ... Brendan Smith replaced Alexey Marchenko on the blue line after being a healthy scratch for two games and supplied five hits and a shot in 15:41 of ice time ... The Lightning lost their third straight Game 3 ... The team that has scored first in the series has won all three games ... Prior to the game, Datsyuk was named a Lady Byng Memorial Trophy finalist alongside Calgary's Jiri Hudler and Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar. The trophy is awarded to the player who best exhibits sportsmanship combined with a high standard of playing ability. Datsyuk won the trophy from 2006-09.
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