The Detroit Red Wings had opportunity on their side but little else, especially offense, as the Tampa Bay Lightning completed the series rally to advance to the second round to face the Montreal Canadiens.
Ben Bishop stopped 31 Detroit shots for a 2-0 shutout in the clinching game.
“[Bishop] took command of the game,” Tampa coach Jon Cooper said. “We had a 
seven-game series, and he took command of this game. I think Mrazek’s been getting a lot of press about how well he’s played in this series, and nobody’s really talked about [Bishop]. After tonight, we can talk about [Bishop].”
Tampa now faces a Habs club that swept them from the playoffs last season. The Bolts feel ready for some level of revenge this season.
“Everyone talked about last year how maybe we weren’t ready, and we’re young and inexperienced,” the Lightning’s Steve Stamkos said. “We had to prove it to ourselves. I don’t think we were really worried about what anyone else was saying, but we had the mentality that we wanted to win.
“This is a team that never quits, has that character and great leadership core, and I think we’re all better for it after going through this series.”
The loss for Detroit was not for lack of effort.
“We really fought hard and played one of our best games,” said Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg, who was held without a goal for the first time in 23 career playoff series. “But we couldn’t find a way to get the puck in today, and they scored in the third. We had a lot of good chances.”
Petr Mrazek faced on 16 shots on the night, stopping 15.
“We came hard the first ten minutes, we put the puck on the net, but we couldn’t get any bounces and just one goal was the difference,” said Mrazek, who made 15 saves. “We had ten chances and couldn’t score, and they scored the one goal.”
Now it is on to Montreal for Tampa Bay.
“We dipped our toes in the water last year,” Cooper said. “This year we get to jump in the pool.”
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