Detroit Red Wings Clips April 25, 2015

Detroit Red Wings PAGE 2 Tigers show support for Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena PAGE 4 Seidel: Mistakes will be Red Wings' downfall PAGE 6 Red Wings' Glendening (hand) is good to go for Game 5 PAGE 8 International reaction: Red Wings blew it, so now what? PAGE 10 Wings shutting down Lightning's stars, except Johnson PAGE 11 St. James: Red Wings seek wisp of hope in tough loss PAGE 13 Jamie: History tells us Red Wings series far from over PAGE 16 Krupa: Wings must forget Game 4, press on PAGE 18 Wings like their position despite Game 4 loss PAGE 20 Tigers take in Wings game, 'squid' tossing PAGE 21 Wings' 'workhorse' Glendening OK'd to play Saturday PAGE 23 Foster: Ciccarelli experiences highs, lows with Wings PAGE 24 Task of slowing down Tyler Johnson's line likely to fall on Red Wings'

Pavel Datsyuk, Darren Helm PAGE 26 Red Wings need to put devastating loss behind and focus on playing good

road game in Tampa Bay PAGE 28 Detroit Red Wings' Luke Glendening will play in Game 5 against Tampa

Bay PAGE 29 Mass excavation begins for Detroit Red Wings arena project PAGE 31 Red Wings reassign forward Teemu Pulkkinen to Grand Rapids Griffins for AHL playoffs PAGE 32 Red Wings make three late defensive mistakes to give Tampa Bay new

life with overtime win PAGE 34 Red Wings hope to build off ‘best game' despite losing it PAGE 36 Luke Glendening good to go for Game 5 PAGE 38 Gave: Red Wings' matchups get more challenging as series shifts to

Tampa Bay PAGE 40 Notes: Wings' prospect Larkin to decide future after World Championships PAGE 42 Wings assign Pulkkinen to Grand Rapids PAGE 43 IN THE D: Red Wings Rookie Ferraro Makes Strong Debut in Playoffs PAGE 45 Wings-Lightning Game 5 face-off Saturday at 6 p.m. on FSD PAGE 46 Thursday's best: Johnson produces late goals for Lightning PAGE 48 YAHOO SPORTS / Red Wings' secret weapon 'in a real groove' against

the Lightning PAGE 51 Bob Duff: Are Red Wings confident or delusional?

Tigers show support for Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena By Perry A. Farrell, Detroit Free Press 10:23 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Brad Ausmus left. The cameras at Joe Louis Arena didn't catch him during the game Thursday night, and he didn't want them to. They spotted J.D. Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Jose Iglesias and Justin Verlander — all in attendance to root for the Red Wings. Like most Wings fans, he thought the team was in good shape with 7 minutes left, so he and the coaches he brought with him headed to the exits before Tampa Bay rallied for three to win in overtime. "Don't blame it on me, because I wasn't the only one leaving,''Ausmus said jokingly. "Wally Joyner texted me and told me it was 2-1. Then a few minute later he texted me saying it was 2-2. It must have happened pretty quickly because I was going to watch overtime at home, but it was already over.'' It was Iglesias' first hockey game, and the 25-year-old Cuban was thrilled. "It was fun; it was the first time in my life I had been to a hockey game," he said. "The fans were unbelievable. It was different. I don't really understand the game, but we had a good time." He learned from the media about what the octopus meant and whether it was safe to throw one onto the ice or not. Iglesias talked to the media about his first experiences with baseball and his fielding prowess. "I started when I was about 5 years old when I started taking ground balls," he said. "My dad was my first coach. It was fun. Still remember it. "Repetition, over and over, is what gets you good at it. Obviously, you have to have a good coach to teach you who is hitting, speed, where to play. It's those little things that help you be a better defender." ■Ned's problem: "Ausmus has paid little attention to the battling Royals, specifically the antics of pitcher Yordano Ventura, who has been tossed twice because of confrontations with Oakland and the Chicago White Sox, and left two other games because of injury. There had been 25 suspensions before Friday night's games, and nine have involved Royals players. Thursday night, the Royals got into a huge scuffle with the White Sox led by — who else? — Ventura. The Tigers head to Kansas City on Friday for a big series.

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"I saw what happened between Chicago and Kansas City," Ausmus said. "I don't know specifics, I know the conjecture of why things are happening, but I don't know the specifics. It's not my concern. It's (manager) Ned Yost's concern." ■Honoring Negro League players: At 11:45 a.m. today, the Tigers will have a question-and-answer session with former Negro League players in the Big Cat room. Pistons public-address announcer John Mason will host the session. Louis Manley, president of the Michigan Chapter of Negro League Players, will participate in a roundtable discussion. Eight former Negro League players are scheduled to be recognized during a pregame ceremony: Melvin Duncan, Eugene Scruggs, Bill Hill, Charlie Davis, Walt Owens, Pedro Sierra, Ron Teasley and Jake Sanders. The first pitch will be thrown out by Charise Key, a Comerica Bank representative, and Duncan. ■Verlander, Rondon updates: There's no change in Justin Verlander's right triceps strain. As far as Bruce Rondon, the young reliever threw 20 fastballs Thursday. "Today he's just playing catch, spinning a couple of breaking balls," Ausmus said. ■Quite the thrill: Before the game, Birmingham Brother Rice outfielder Nick Plummer met and stood with David Price, Lou Whitaker, Jake Wood, Willie Horton, Rajai Davis, Rod Allen and Dave Clark in a pregame ceremony. Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Seidel: Mistakes will be Red Wings' downfall By Jeff Seidel, 6:08 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Red Wings coach Mike Babcock rarely talks to his team right after a game. But this was different. Late Thursday night, Babcock addressed the Wings after they were stunned in overtime by Tampa Bay, 3-2. Because it was so heart-breaking to watch a two-goal lead evaporate in a matter of minutes. Because it was so draining and maddening. Because the Wings lost more than a game. They lost a chance to go up 3-1 in this best-of-seven series. So as the players were still trying to figure out what happened at the end of this gut punch — "I have no idea," said Luke Glendening, who didn't see any of it because he was out with a hand injury — Babcock wanted to make sure that there would be no emotional hangover when the Wings play the Lightning Saturday in Tampa. "I talked to them just about that," Babcock said. "I really believe a couple things in life. I believe if you think you can, you can." That might be true in a Little Engine that Could kind of world — unless, you know, you screw up and that train jumps off the tracks. And if we have learned anything in this series, it is this: When the Wings make mistakes, they have no chance. Oh, and one other thing, there is no such thing as momentum. The Wings stole Game1 thanks to the outstanding play of goalie Petr Mrazek. The Lightning bounced back to win Game 2 thanks to several mistakes by the Wings. The Wings played outstanding, limited their mistakes and won Game 3. And then, the Lightning came out of nowhere to win Game 4 after it looked like it was all but won by the Wings. So we are back at even, 2-2. "Here it is, it's the best of three," Babcock said. "Let's get up and get regrouped and get on with it." Only there is a massive problem. The Wings made all kinds of mistakes during crunch time in Game 4, and that has been the fatal flaw of this team.

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All three of Tampa Bay's goals came off Wings' mistakes, causing an unbelievable collapse. Albom: Wings snatched defeat from jaws of victory in Game 4 "We turned it over on the four-on-four and then we didn't sort it out coming back into our zone," Babcock said. "And they shot it into the net. The next one, it was an o-zone face-off loss. We're supposed to split and pinch. We didn't pinch and we didn't sort it out coming back into our zone. The last one, we turned it over and we dove in. When you think about it right there, for as well as we played, those are three crucial mistakes in a short period of time." You starting to recognize a theme here? "They're all on us," Babcock said. "They're our responsibility. It's not something they did. It's something we did." Can the Wings still win this series? Yes. The Wings have already proved that they can win in Amalie Arena, a place where the Lightning have been so dominant. Mrazek has proved that he can steal a game on the road. The Wings have proved that they can shut down Tampa Bay's high-scoring attack. They have the formula. Will they win this series? It doesn't seem likely after this failure. It's hard to imagine they will win again in Tampa. Not as long as they keep making mistakes. So Babcock will cling to his mantra: If you think you can, you will. Which is entirely understandable. But at some point, as the mistakes pile up, over and over, you have to come to a different realization: You are who you are. Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Red Wings' Glendening (hand) is good to go for Game 5 By Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press 2:11 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Luke Glendening insisted numerous times that his injury was no big deal. That was good news for the Detroit Red Wings, as losing their fourth-line center would have been a big deal. General manager Ken Holland backed up Glendening's diagnosis today, telling the Free Press that Glendening "will play in Game 5" on Saturday, when the Wings take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena in the tied first-round series. Game 6 will be Monday, back at Joe Louis Arena. If necessary, Game 7 would be Wednesday, at Tampa Bay. Glendening left late in the third period of Thursday's 3-2 overtime loss, after suffering a cut to his right hand. Soon after, the Lightning scored twice in 1:17 to tie the game, and then Tyler Johnson, who had been Glendening's matchup all night, scored again in overtime. The absence was noted by both sides. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper, familiar with Glendening from coaching against him in the 2013 AHL Calder Cup playoffs, lacked for words to describe Glendening's effectiveness. "He's done a heck of a job on our guys," Cooper said. "You look back, and we came back to win the game, so it was potentially a huge factor. He's a good player for them, so there's no question it had an effect." Glendening is a relentless defender whom Babcock trusts to go against anyone, including Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. The Wings have been using, at least in the two games at the Joe, Pavel Datsyuk's line against Steven Stamkos, which forces Stamkos to focus as much on defending as attacking. Glendening had been very effective against Johnson's line with Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov. On top of that, Glendening has two goals, following up on the dozen he scored during the regular season. "He's been great for us this series, all year," forward Gustav Nyquist said. "The way he plays, he plays hard, skates, is a workhorse." Health is vital to a successful playoff run, and while all players are bruised this time of year, Holland said that the Wings will have "all hands on deck" for Game 5. Discipline doldrums: The Wings are averaging 13 penalty minutes per game, compared with 10.5 by Tampa Bay. The Wings were shorthanded for eight minutes Thursday. "Yeah, that's not good enough, obviously," Nyquist said. "Our PKers did a tremendous job all game long. They've been doing that all series, but we've taken way too many penalties the whole series here, and that's something we've got to change, because they've got dangerous guys."

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Tampa Bay's power play didn't exit the regular season with impressive numbers — the 18.8% success rate fell in the middle of the NHL, but it was at 22.9% at home. The Lightning has two man-advantage goals in this series, both at home. As good as Detroit's penalty killers are, spending so much time shorthanded is a lot of wear and tear, and it disrupts the flow of rolling four lines. Pulkkinen off to minors: Seeing as he wasn't playing with the Wings, prospect Teemu Pulkkinen was retuned to the Grand Rapids Griffins today. Defenseman Alexey Marchenko stuck with the Wings for now, though he hasn't played since Game 2. Pulkkinen was the only right-shooting forward among the Wings, but he went 14 games down the stretch without a goal and has been a healthy scratch from the start of the playoffs. Now he'll get experience instead with the Griffins, who kick off their playoffs Saturday, against the Toronto Marlies. Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.25.2015

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International reaction: Red Wings blew it, so now what? By James Jahnke, Detroit Free Press 12:43 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 It was all we could think about this morning, and we weren't alone. Plenty of people are talking about the Detroit Red Wings' third-period collapse in Thursday night's Game 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Joe Louis Arena. Here's a sampling of the international media: • Stanley Kay, si.com: Goaltending was a major question for Detroit and Tampa Bay entering this series, and after four games there aren't many answers. After giving up four goals in Game 2, (Petr) Mrazek rebounded with a shutout that he carried through most of Game 4. He looked like an experienced keeper while stopping very good chances from the likes of (Steven) Stamkos. Then everything fell apart. The goals weren't necessarily Mrazek's fault, but he certainly didn't look good during the last six minutes of regulation and through the brief OT. He barely moved on (Tyler) Johnson's first goal, and he flailed out of position at the winner. After Thursday, questions remain as to whether Mrazek, who finished with 26 saves, can perform consistently at the level required for Detroit to advance. Otherwise, it's up to Jimmy Howard • Craig Custance, espn.com: All we know is this: That flurry of a finish has put the Lightning in considerably better shape in this series. It releases pressure. Now, they can head home and play the game that got them here -- relentless, skilled and with players capable of changing any game in a moment's notice. • Kevin Allen, USA TODAY: The Lightning were the NHL's highest-scoring team, and even when they were trailing 2-0, there was a sense that if they scored one goal against Mrazek, they were going to net the three needed to win. • Scott Cullen, tsn.ca: In an unusual twist, two of the Red Wings' most reliable two-way players came out on the wrong end of the possession game ((Pavel) Datsyuk 6 for, 14 against, 30.0%; (Darren) Helm 5 for, 13 against, 27.8%) against Tampa Bay, and were on the ice for all three goals against in a 3-2 overtime loss. • Adam Gretz, cbssports.com: Pavel Datsyuk is still getting the best of Steven Stamkos, but it did not matter Thursday night thanks to the play of Johnson. And that is the beauty of Tampa Bay's roster. When its top player gets shut down, there are several other players (Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov) that can pick up the slack and make things happen. So far in this series, it's been Johnson. After his Game 4 performance he now has four goals in four games. • Paul Harris, nhl.com: The Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings each can claim they "stole" a game in their Eastern Conference First Round series. • Associated Press: The Tampa Bay Lightning spent all season showing they could score goals in bunches, and with a first-round playoff series seemingly slipping away, Tyler Johnson led their most important flurry yet.

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• Sean Leahy, yahoo.com: If the Lightning make a deep run this spring, look for diminutive center (Johnson) to get lots of Conn Smythe Trophy love. Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Wings shutting down Lightning's stars, except Johnson By George Sipple, Detroit Free Press 11:03 a.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Former Detroit Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula praised the effort of the Tampa Bay Lightning's Triplet line -- led by Tyler Johnson -- in an unbelievable 3-2 win in overtime in Game 4 on Thursday night. Johnson scored two goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal 2:25 into overtime. Johnson leads the Lightning with four goals and one assist (five points) in four games. The Wings have been able to contain most of the Lightning's scoring threats besides Johnson, the only Tampa player to have scored more than one goal. The only other goal scorers in the series are Ondrej Palat -- who tied Game 4 by finishing off a pass from Johnson at 15:51 of the third period -- Alex Killorn, Nikita Nesterov and Filppula. Steven Stamkos, who finished second in the NHL with 43 goals in the regular season, has more penalties (three) than points (two) in the series. Ryan Callahan, who scored 24 goals and 54 points in the regular season, has been held to two assists by the Wings. "Obviously, every line is trying to do their job, play well defensively and then, hopefully, get some offensive chances," Filppula said Thursday night. "As long as we play well defensively, we're going to get enough chances to score. I think, today, we had a lot of chances as well. The goalie played great. Both goalies played great. It's tight hockey." Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.25.2015

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St. James: Red Wings seek wisp of hope in tough loss By Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press 12:18 a.m. EDT April 25, 2015 The Detroit Red Wings insisted after their first loss of the series that they could build on it. They're keeping in tune after their second loss. The first-round series between the Wings and Tampa Bay really gets interesting now because one side is going to come out of tonight's Game 5 within a victory of advancing. Coach Mike Babcock told the Free Press he isn't making any lineup changes because why change a lineup he largely has liked? The most important news to emerge Friday for the Wings was that star checker Luke Glendening is OK to play after leaving Game 4 with an injured right hand. The Wings ought to feel as though they already should be within a victory of winning the series because they had a two-goal lead in Game 4 until the last 6 minutes of regulation, only to end up explaining a 3-2 overtime loss. Babcock called it a "real shot to the gut." Often the losing team will credit the winning team, but Babcock spun a version of the "it's not you, it's me" line, saying, "It's not something they did. It's something we did. They hadn't done much, to be honest with you." Game 4 served as a reminder of why the Lightning is favored to beat the Wings: What Tampa Bay did was wait for the Wings to make mistakes and took advantage. But something else that's interesting is that Tampa Bay is heralded as a tremendously deep team, especially up front, but the Wings hardly have looked outmatched in that area. Of Tampa Bay's 10 goals, Tyler Johnson has four, and no one else has more than one. Of Detroit's nine goals, Pavel Datsyuk and Glendening each have two, with Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco, Riley Sheahan and Joakim Andersson tallying one each. Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos have yet to score. The series has been a game of responses, with the loser winning the next game. The Wings face a daunting task to keep that trend going because the Lightning won an NHL-best 32 times at home during the regular season. Petr Mrazek dented the mystique of Amalie Arena when he made 44 saves to win Game 1, a game Babcock also brought up after Game 4 because he figured it put the Wings and the Lightning on even footing as far as having stolen games. As the Lightning did after Game 1, the Wings looked at their Game 4 and were encouraged. "We can build off a lot of positives from that game," Justin Abdelkader said. "It's not the finish we wanted, but you know what? A lot of people never saw us in this position in the first place. It's best-of-three now, and we're confident with the group in here." The Wings need to take how well they played at home, especially how well they started Game 3, and try to make that happen on the road. "We know what we did good and we know what we did bad," Zetterberg said of the turn of events in Game 4. "We just have to stay poised and believe in ourselves."

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Glendening, his right hand bandaged after needing stitches to sew a gash, was frustrated to see the Wings in a 2-2 tie. "I thought we played well," he said. "So we've got to build on those things, try to carry them over." The takeaway from Game 4 is, there's no letting up in the playoffs. A little adversity never hurts, but the Wings can't afford to be slow learners. "Let's dig in," Babcock said. "Let's understand our plan. Let's understand how well we played in Games 3 and 4. Game 4 may be our best game. So, to me, that's a good sign. I believe the series should be 2-2." It's the Wings' turn to respond, to embrace the situation, to back up what their coach told them after Game 4: If you believe you can, you can. Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Jamie: History tells us Red Wings series far from over By Jamie Samuelsen, Special to Detroit Free Press 9:33 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Babcock is too smart and the roster is too deep. Don't believe me? Go back and watch Game 1, Game 3 and most of Game 4. Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the "Jamie and Wojo" show at 6 p.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie. The Detroit Red Wings all of sudden lost Game 4 at the Joe. Which segment will carry over: The first 55 minutes of Thursday, or the last 5 minutes and overtime? Nothing lasts forever. That we already knew. What we've been reminded of through four games of hockey between the Red Wings and the Lightning is that nothing lasts for even the briefest of moments. The game, the series and the future of the Eastern Conference playoffs can change in an instant. We know this from watching the Wings in the Stanley Cup playoffs over the years. But we haven't had this strong of a reminder in quite a long time. Heading into the series, nobody gave the Red Wings a chance. As a result, many of the fans in Detroit welcomed the playoffs with a collective "meh." Then the Wings stole Game 1 and all of a sudden Hockeytown believed a little bit. Game 2 dampened that as Tampa Bay dominated making it feel like, as one witty writer put it, the Red Wings were facing an insurmountable 1-1 tie. The series shifted to Detroit and momentum shifted with it. The Red Wings controlled Game 3 and blanked the Lightning. While they were leading, 2-0, deep into the third period of Game 4, I started to think about the future. This team had a confident goaltender playing at the top of his game. And like great Wings teams of years past, they were getting key goals and strong play from unexpected places. I started to wonder if this team was not only capable of knocking out the Lightning but were capable of more as well. Then everything changed, as it always does. No team has won consecutive games in this series. Neither team could defend home ice after they had earned it. Both teams have had stars go quiet for stretches and had role players shine. Both wasted 5-on-3 power plays over the past two games. It's easy for Red Wings fans to be devastated after Game 4. It's hard enough to beat the Lightning. It's harder still when you have to win not one but two games in Florida. It's hardest when you hand over a game that you controlled almost throughout, especially when it's Game 4. So is it over? Let me ask you another question – have you been watching this series?

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If you're reading this, then the answer to the last two questions should be no and yes, in that order. Mike Babcock said it best after Thursday's 3-2 overtime loss, "I believe that we stole Game 1 and they just stole this game, so to me it should be 2-2. Here it is. It's the best of three. Let's play." Let's not go too far. Of course, Tampa Bay has the advantage. They're the favorite. They have home ice. They have to be feeling great about themselves. Their second line – "The Triplets" (Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov) appears to be really taking flight. And at some point, you have to expect Steven Stamkos to make his presence felt. The Wings face a monumental task. But they were counted out before Game 1. And they were counted out before Game 3. They responded both times. True, they were badly outplayed in Tampa Bay where they have to play at least one and maybe two more times. Remember though that Justin Abdelkader missed those two games and his impact can't be overstated. It's not just what he does on the ice in terms of charging the net and imposing his will physically. It's also about what his presence allows Babcock to do in terms of setting up his lines and maximizing his twelve forwards. The Lightning have more talent top to bottom than Detroit. But it's not so much more talent that the series is as one-sided as it looked through the first two games. International reaction: Red Wings blew it, so now what? It's probably too simple to say that the Red Wings "figured out" the Lightning. But when you play each other time and time again, you start to get a sense of what works and what doesn't. Babcock will continue to match the Luke Glendening line up with the Triplets and put Pavel Datsyuk across from Stamkos as much as possible. The amazing thing about Game 4 is that it seemed like the Glendening line was on the ice as much as or more than Henrik Zetterberg's line. Drew Miller was on the ice for 17:41. Zetterberg was on for just 66 seconds more at 18:47. That shows you what a chess match is going on and how it will most likely continue over the next two or three games. There also is the issue of goaltending. There is no doubt through four games that Petr Mrazek is the best goaltender in the series. Ben Bishop had a great year. But Mrazek has been better so far. The best thing about Mrazek is that he's shown during the season that he rebounds brilliantly from disappointment. He was pulled from Game 2, he threw up his first career postseason shutout in Game 3. He played well enough to win Game 4, but will likely be haunted by the first goal he allowed to Johnson through a rather small sliver on the short side. If that's disappointment, he'll most likely respond with a bigger, better game on Saturday. This series has proven the prognosticators wrong. Tampa Bay hasn't been quite as good as people thought. Detroit hasn't been a pushover. Tampa Bay may lead in terms of shots on goal, but other than that, it's been a tight series. This isn't about who will win or who will lose. This is more about giving credit to both sides for getting to this point and admitting that things can change quickly. The Red Wings aren't out of this by a long shot. Their coach is too smart and their roster is too deep. If you don't believe that, go back and watch Game 1, Game 3 and most of

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Game 4 again. Things change in an instant in this series and the Wings still have enough players in key positions to affect that change. Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Krupa: Wings must forget Game 4, press on Gregg Krupa, The Detroit News 7:01 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 — The Red Wings can be excused for feeling dejected. After a lot of outstanding play Thursday, they made four mistakes in the closing minutes of a potentially pivotal playoff game. It ripped victory from their grasp. A loss like that can stick with a team for a while. But Wings coach Mike Babcock does not believe in momentum from game-to-game, playoffs or not. He says it starts all over again when the puck is dropped. One reason is a good athlete's response to unhappiness with a result is to transform adversity into progress. What was learned is that the same performance is required, absent the boo-boos. Respond positively and improve. Elite athletes begin learning that from the moment they take up their sports. And those intentions bloom only precariously from dejection. With 5:26 to go in regulation, the Red Wings blew a two-goal lead in a game that would have put them up 3-1 in a series against a better opponent. But the Wings also know they played a second good game in succession, arguably for the first time in seven weeks. Among other accomplishments, they committed only three giveaways. Their twin tasks, now? Play a third worthy game in succession. And, as they did on Tuesday in the 3-0 shutout of the Lightning, eliminate the errors. 'Get on with it' When Babcock stopped staring ominously at the Lightning's celebration behind the Red Wings net after the impressive Tyler Johnson netted his second goal in 7:51, the coach finally walked from behind the bench in Joe Louis Arena and decided to do something he almost never does. He talked to his team. Usually, because he says he is concerned about loose words uttered in the passion of the moment, he waits to speak with them. He is careful enough to want to command, with some precision, what he says. But, this time, with perhaps a bit of damn-the-torpedoes boldness, Babcock said he talked to them about two things he believes. "If you think you can, you can," he said, in the postgame press conference. "The second things is, I believe we stole Game 1 and they just stole this game. So, to me, it should be 2-2. And, here it is: It's the best-of-3. So, let's play.

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"We can feel sorry for ourselves. We've got a flight to Tampa, let's do it then. Let's get up and regroup, and get on with it." Getting on with it means recommitting to the fine play they exhibited for five periods and 14:35 of a sixth, before the mistakes occurred. Getting on with it means correcting the mistakes. Johnson's first goal occurred when the Wings lost possession of the puck in the offensive zone, and then had difficulty sorting out the coverage as they retreated into their own end with the Lightning's rush. It left Darren Helm alone on the oncoming Johnson, without a defenseman behind him. A second mistake occurred on the same goal when Petr Mrazek, who had a 115:06 scoreless streak going, finally blundered. As the high-scoring Johnson skated mostly unabated, Mrazek went down early only halfway up in the crease. Instead of up and out against an attacker from the outside, he was down and deep. Johnson beat him on the short side. Costly turnover On the second goal, when Johnson primarily assisted the Ondrej Palat goal, the Wings lost a faceoff in the offensive zone and immediately blew the "split-and-pinch" assignments intended to begin the defense. It spurred a Lightning rush and, once again, the Wings did not get their deployment sorted out in their own zone. On the third goal, in overtime, the Wings turned the puck over in the offensive zone, near the blue line and at the sideboards. Pressing offensively, only one man on the ice was in any good position to try to do something. A three-on-one break resulted in Johnson's second goal. Four mistakes, after a lot of consistently good play. The assertion that Luke Glendening's cut hand cost them the game is negated, in my mind, by the fact that his replacement against Johnson's line was Pavel Datsyuk. Glendening is aggressive, young and gritty. But Datsyuk is Datsyuk, one of the finest defensive forwards in the game. Babcock did not include Mrazek's positioning as an error, saying that what preceded it was the cause of the goal "So when you think about it, for as well as we played, those are three crucial mistakes in a short period of time," he said. "They're all on us. They're all our responsibility. It's not something they did. It's something we did. But that's just part of the game. It doesn't matter who gets hurt, you've got to play the whole 60 minutes." Detroit News LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Wings like their position despite Game 4 loss Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News 6:38 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Tampa, Fla. — So if someone had told the Red Wings 10 days ago they'd be in this position, would they have taken it? To be tied 2-2 in a best-of-seven series against Tampa Bay, with two of the three games left at Tampa? And coming off a shocking 3-2 loss in Game 4 to the Lightning? Know what? They would have taken being in this position. "We'd take it 10 times out of 10," forward Justin Abdelkader said. "It was a tough break in overtime, one of those things. "A lot of people never saw us being in this position. We're confident in our group and we're confident going into Saturday." Game 5 in Tampa on Saturday (6 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit, CBC, 97.1) begins what amounts to a three-game series. Each team feels like it has stolen one game in the other team's rink. Each team feels it's had great moments of hockey in this series, and some not so great. But the importance of each game is magnified from here on, with the Red Wings heading into these crucial games trying to forget Thursday's nightmare. The Lightning scored two goals in final 5:26 of regulation — in a span of 1:17 — then scored at 2:25 of overtime to win it. Tyler Johnson scored the winner and the first goal, and set up the tying goal by Ondrej Palat. "Obviously it's a shot to the gut," coach Mike Babock said of the way the Red Wings lost. "Anytime you're in a situation where you're in a real good spot and suddenly it goes away that quick, in five minutes, end up losing the game, it's hard. "But you get on the flight, you get here, and you're done feeling sorry for yourself and get ready for the next game." Babcock is a big believer in teams battling through adversity — and this situation is a good test of that for the Red Wings. "Here's some adversity, let's dig in," Babcock said. "This series should be 2-2 and that's where it is. You earned what you got." All three of Tampa Bay's goals were scored after Luke Glendening had to leave the game with a cut hand suffered from a skate during a scrum near the boards.

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Glendening had done a superb job of marking Johnson's line both games in Detroit. But without Glendening on the ice, Johnson was able to dominate in the game's final minutes. Glendening said Friday he will be ready to play in Game 5. "We played good yesterday, we have a lot of things we can build on," Glendening said. "The series is a race to four (victories). We have to steal one in their building." The Red Wings felt they played well enough to win both games at Joe Louis Arena, centered around a better offensive push with four balanced lines and superb penalty killing. There's still work to do defensively — the breakdowns in Game 4, and an ineffective power play, cost them the game — but the Red Wings are confident. "The most encouraging thing is we keep getting better," Niklas Kronwall said. "The last few games have been real encouraging. Our power play has to get better but if we keep playing like that, we'll be just fine." The Red Wings have already won one game in Amalie Arena, winning Game 1, 3-2, despite being outshot, 46-14. "We're real comfortable the way we've been playing here (Tampa)," Gustav Nyquist said. "We've played real solid the last two games. We just have to keep it going." Detroit News LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Tigers take in Wings game, 'squid' tossing Chris McCosky, The Detroit News 5:22 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 It wasn't Miguel Cabrera's first hockey game; he's been to a few. Still, there was one question he had about what he saw at The Joe Thursday night. "How do they get the squid into the building?" Cabrera and several of his teammates attended the Wings' heartbreaking 3-2 loss to the Lightning. It was Jose Iglesias' first hockey game. He, too, was intrigued by the octopi tossing and asked a reporter to explain the tradition. "The fans were unbelievable," Iglesias said. "I don't understand the game at all, but Miggy explained it to me. We had a great time. Really fast and fun to see. Those guys played really hard." Manager Brad Ausmus and three of his coaches were also there. They left with seven minutes left and the Wings up 2-0. "There were plenty of people leaving when I left, so don't try to pin that on me," he said. Detroit News LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Wings' 'workhorse' Glendening OK'd to play Saturday Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News 7:32 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Detroit — There was one piece of good news already for the Red Wings heading into Saturday's Game 5. Luke Glendening, who suffered a cut hand midway in the third period, and whose absence was felt deeply, will play Saturday, Wings general manager Ken Holland said. Glendening didn't return to Game 4 and with Glendening's line not intact the Lightning's Triplet Line — Tyler Johnson centering Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov — skated wild. Johnson scored twice, including the overtime winner, and set up Palat for the tying goal. Glendening didn't practice Friday but was optimistic after the loss he'd be in the lineup. "Nothing too serious. It's good," Glendening said. It's not feasible to entirely pinpoint the Game 4 defeat on the loss of one player for the final seven minutes of regulation time and 2:25 of overtime. But not having Glendening was a significant loss, as both teams acknowledged. "He's been great for us this year the way he plays," said Gustav Nyquist, noting Glendening's hard-nosed defensive work. "He's a workhorse and it was tough to see him go down." Lightning coach Jon Cooper has coached against Glendening in the American League and now in the NHL and understands the importance of such a player. "I don't know how to describe him (Glendening), he's an extremely responsible player and there's not a lot of guys out there like the Glendenings," Cooper said. "He's done a heck of a job on our guys and they lost a player that plays an extremely important role for them. "You look back now and we came back to win a game so it was potentially a huge factor." Back to Grand Rapids Forward Teemu Pulkkinen was reassigned to Grand Rapids. Pulkkinen was a healthy scratch the first four games of this series. In 31 games with the Red Wings, Pulkkinen have five goals and three assists. This should be a nice addition for the Griffins, who open their AHL playoffs Saturday in Toronto. Pulkkinen, despite missing most of the second half of the season (he was in the NHL), led the AHL with 34 goals in 46 games. No need to worry

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Goalie Petr Mrazek was ready to shake off Thursday's loss almost immediately. Mrazek hadn't allowed the Lightning a goal at Joe Louis Arena for 174 minutes, 34 seconds, then saw the Lightning score three in just under eight minutes. "It's a hockey game," Mrazek said. "Who scores more goals wins and they scored three, we had two. Nothing we can do about it, anymore. Just think about it for the next game." Babcock didn't feel any of the goals were Mrazek's fault. "I don't know what he was supposed to do," Babcock said. "That's the problem with the plays. We made the mistakes ourselves. He was fine. I didn't think he was tested a ton. He was fine." Detroit News LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Foster: Ciccarelli experiences highs, lows with Wings Terry Foster, The Detroit News 12:16 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015 Shelby Township – Dino Ciccarelli will be back in the corner of his Ciccarelli's 22 Sports Bar Theater Saturday night, munching on fries and nachos while hoping for a better result from his team as the Red Wings take on the Lightning in Game 5 of their playoff series. It was 1996 when Ciccarelli last tied up a pair of skates to play an official game with the Red Wings. But he still feels the pain of victory and the agony of defeat every time the Red Wings play. Thursday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Lightning stings. The talkative Ciccarelli rubbed his hands through his head as Tyler Johnson flipped the puck into an open net a few miles away at Joe Louis Arena. He was as stunned as most of the patrons. A packed crowd of about 500 grew silent as the Wings tossed away a 2-0 lead during the final 5:26 of regulation and overtime, turning a certain 3-1 advantage in the series into a 2-2 match race. It was 1994 all over again, a year where Michigan teams suffered stunning losses that turned certain victory into bitter defeat. This was Kordell Stewart flinging a ball 70 yards in 1994 to Michael Westbrook to shock Michigan, 27-26 on the final play, a game that silenced Michigan Stadium. The play is among the most iconic in sports history. It was goalie Chris Osgood earlier that year sending a wayward pass along the boards against San Jose in Game 7 in 1994 that ended up in the back of the net for a stunning loss 3-2 loss at Joe Louis Arena. It was Sterling Sharpe alone in the end zone during a wild-card playoff game between the Packers and Lions. The Lions forgot to cover Sharpe, who grabbed a 40-yard touchdown pass from Brett Favre on the game's final play to win 28-24. "This one can linger," Ciccarelli said. "It could always be in the back of your head as a player." He should know. He is in the Hockey Hall of Fame and his 608 career goals are the most ever by an undrafted player. He never won a Stanley Cup as a player in Detroit but joins in spirit on every Red Wing playoff drive. His perch on game nights is usually his mammoth sports bar in Shelby Township. He also has locations in Auburn Hills and downtown Detroit. Watch for a Mexican-themed sports bar to open in Royal Oak. After the game Thursday night, the music played at Ciccarelli's 22, but the former Red Wing and his customers, deflated, didn't have much to say. "Just got to go back at it Saturday," Ciccarelli said.

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Task of slowing down Tyler Johnson's line likely to fall on Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk, Darren Helm Ansar Khan | on April 24, 2015 at 7:04 PM, updated April 24, 2015 at 7:05 PM DETROIT – This is how much Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper respects Luke Glendening's shutdown capability: He'd rather have his best player, Tyler Johnson, go head-to-head against three-time Selke Trophy winner Pavel Datsyuk. Cooper, with the last change at home in Game 5 Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings, once again will try to keep Johnson's line away from Glendening's line as this Eastern Conference quarterfinal chess match continues at Amalie Arena (6 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit). "I imagine they'll have Johnny play against Pav tomorrow and Pav's got to be up to that, and Glenny will get someone else," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said after practice Friday in Tampa. "But that's part of being at home and part of being on the road. I just think it's important we keep getting better and that's what you have to do in a series to be successful." The series is tied 2-2, but the Lightning have momentum after their 3-2 overtime victory Thursday. It was a game that turned dramatically when Glendening left with 7:28 remaining to get his hand stitched up. Johnson's line, with Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, took over, scoring twice in 1:17 to tie it and winning it on Johnson's goal at 2:25 of OT. All three goals were scored while Datsyuk's line, with Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar, were on the ice (Landon Ferraro was on in place of Tatar for the first one, during the middle of a change). The top defense pairing of Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson also were on the ice for the first two goals. "Obviously, Glenny was right on top of that line the whole game and he left for a bit and they were able to (take over)," Kronwall said. "But whether he's in the lineup or not, whether he's on the ice or not when Johnson's out there, the rest of us have to do a better job of slowing him down, take away his time and space. We made some mistakes and it cost us." Glendening will play in Game 5. He said he was almost ready to return in overtime. He doesn't know how he was cut, even after seeing the replay of the melee in which he and Victor Hedman received roughing penalties. "I got jumped after the bump on Johnson and I don't know what happened after that," Glendening said. Babcock might try to change on the fly to get Glendening matched up against Johnson as often as possible. "(Glendening) is a competitive guy and he's got a couple goals in the series," Babcock said. "He works hard and he does a good job. Obviously, that has a factor in the game, but those things happen."

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Said Gustav Nyquist: "Glenny's a big part of our team, a workhorse who's been really good throughout the whole year and does so many things well for us -- skates well, kills all our penalties, faceoff guy. Obviously, we miss him when he's out." Babcock often assigns Glendening to check the opposition's top player. "I just like to help the team in any way I can," Glendening said. "If that's playing against a line like that, then good. If I play five minutes and we win, that's good as well, too." This Lightning line was the league's most dangerous during the regular season, combining for 74 goals and 200 points. "They're high-skilled, offensively dynamic," Glendening said. "They work, they can all skate. They're good in their own zone as well. They're a tough line to play against, that's for sure." But, he's encouraged by his club's play the past two games. "I thought we played a good game," Glendening said. "We have a lot of things to build on. ... We're going to have to steal one in their building and just play the best we can." Michigan Live LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Red Wings need to put devastating loss behind and focus on playing good road game in Tampa Bay Ansar Khan on April 24, 2015 at 4:01 PM, updated April 24, 2015 at 4:14 PM DETROIT – The devastating turn of events in the final minutes of Thursday's game prompted Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock to put X's and O's aside for a moment and don his motivational cap. He wanted to make sure his team's hangover from its stunning 3-2 overtime loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning doesn't carry over into Game 5 Saturday at Amalie Arena (6 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit). "I never talk to the guys after a game, ever, but tonight I talked to them just about that," Babcock said following the game. "I really believe in a couple of things – if you think you can, you can. Second thing is I believe we stole Game 1 and they stole this game. "So to me, it should be 2-2. Here it is, a best-of-three, let's play. We can feel sorry for ourselves on the flight to Tampa and then let's get regrouped and get going." The Red Wings were so close to taking a 3-1 stranglehold on the series. Then shutdown center Luke Glendening left with 7:28 remaining to get his hand stitched up and his team fell apart at the seams. Tyler Johnson and his line, a non-factor while being shadowed by Glendening, Drew Miller and Landon Ferraro, suddenly took over with a more favorable matchup – incredibly enough, against Pavel Datsyuk's line. Johnson scored a couple of goals, including the winner at 2:25 of OT, and set up the other in a span of 7:51. The Red Wings must show their mental toughness by bouncing back from this one. "There's no time to hang your head," Miller said. "It comes back here pretty quick and we're right back at it. This is playoffs; you can never get too high, you can never get too low. Forget about the game and get ready for the next one. "You don't worry about, 'Oh man, poor us.' " The Red Wings must win another game in Tampa Bay, where the Lightning boasted the best home record in the league (32-8-1) and outplayed them by a significant margin the first two games. "Obviously, it's a shot in the gut anytime you are in a situation where you think are in a real a good spot and suddenly it goes away that quick," Babcock said after practice Friday in Tampa. "We played a real good game and in five minutes we end up losing, so that's hard. "I've coached a long time, been around a lot of championship teams. Every championship team I've ever been involved with goes through adversity. What you do is you embrace the adversity and it allows you to get better. Without it, you never, ever win

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in the end. So to me here's some adversity, let's dig in, let's understand our plan; let's understand how well we played Games 3 and 4. Maybe Game 4 was our best game." Glendening will return for Game 5. Lightning coach Jon Cooper, with the last change at home, will keep Johnson's line away from Glendening's line. So that task likely will fall again on Datsyuk's line (with Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar). Johnson has four goals and an assist in the series. "We've got to be better in Game 5, but I think momentum is going to slide in our favor after this one," Johnson said. The Red Wings must continue doing what they did well in their two home games (except for that brief stretch at the end of Game 4): execute in their own zone, forecheck aggressively, spend time wearing on the defense, be hard on goaltender Ben Bishop and don't let the Lightning get through the neutral zone with speed. "I think the most encouraging thing is we keep getting better," defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "Our first two games in Tampa wasn't anywhere near the way we want to be. In Game 3 we got better and in Game 4 we took another step. "If we keep playing like that we'll be just fine. ... We feel like we're in a good spot here." Babcock broke it down to one battle. "They're trying to get into our D, we're trying to get into their D," Babcock said. "When we get into their D we spend time in the offensive zone, have the puck and get chances. If you can spend time in the offensive zone and back their (defense) in and be hard on their goalie, you have a chance to win." The Red Wings aren't worried about rookie goalie Petr Mrazek's frame of mind. He stole the opener with a 44-save performance and has demonstrated his mettle time and again. "We were just talking, just stay positive and go grab the next win," Mrazek said. Said captain Henrik Zetterberg: "Just have to stay poised, believe in ourselves." Michigan Live LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Detroit Red Wings' Luke Glendening will play in Game 5 against Tampa Bay Ansar Khan on April 24, 2015 at 1:44 PM, updated April 24, 2015 at 1:57 PM DETROIT -- Detroit Red Wings center Luke Glendening will play in Game 5 against Tampa Bay Saturday (6 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit), general manager Ken Holland confirmed today. Glendening left Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series Thursday after his right hand and thumb were cut during a melee with 7:28 remaining in the third period. The Red Wings, up by two goals at the time, faltered without the gritty, shutdown center, who had been doing a tremendous job against Tyler Johnson since the series shifted to Joe Louis Arena. Without Glendening shadowing him, Johnson scored a pair of goals, including the overtime winner at 2:25, and also assisted on Ondrej Palat's tying goal with 4:09 to play in regulation. The challenge for the Red Wings at Amalie Arena, where Tampa Bay has the last change, is to get Glendening on the ice against Johnson's line (with Palat and Nikita Kucherov). Michigan Live LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Mass excavation begins for Detroit Red Wings arena project David Muller on April 24, 2015 at 1:17 PM, updated April 24, 2015 at 1:39 PM DETROIT, MI - Mass excavation began Friday for a new Detroit Red Wings arena in the city's Midtown neighborhood, a few days after city officials gave construction the green light. Olympia Development of Michigan aims to have the $450 million, 20,000-seat arena completed by the summer of 2017. It's part of a $650 million development project that also calls for mixed-use development around the arena in a 45-block area that now sits mostly empty. Doug Kuiper, Olympia's vice president of corporate communications, tweeted this Friday: Big day as mass excavation on the new Detroit Events Center and home of @DetroitRedWings begins #TheDistrictDetroit pic.twitter.com/5Na5LiofF1 — Doug Kuiper (@forestdk) April 24, 2015 Olympia is the development arm of Ilitch Holdings, which owns the Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers, the Fox Theatre and MotorCity Casino. It is overseen by Mike and Marian Ilitch, the founders of the Little Caesars Pizza chain. City Council signed off on a zoning change for the project Tuesday, and Detroit's Downtown Development Authority gave final approval Wednesday afternoon. The DDA also on Wednesday approved a $50.7 million subcontract for Detroit-based Midwest Steel to provide the steel necessary to build the arena. The lead contractor for the project is a joint venture between Barton Malow Hunt and White Construction Co., and subcontracts above $500,000 have to be approved by the DDA. The arena project, revealed in greater detail in 2013, broke ground last fall. It is being funded with a mix of $365.5 million in private investment and an estimated public investment of $284.5 million. The project has been frequently described as a "catalyst," which will propel further development in the city. The public portion of the project is being backed by tax increment financing, or TIFs, a development tool that dates back to the 1950s in the U.S. TIFs traditionally work like this: A blighted area is declared a TIF district by the state legislature, and designated to a Downtown Development Authority. In this case it's Detroit's DDA, which is using TIFs to get money from the municipal bond markets, and then promising, against the state coffers, that the money will be paid back. And with the TIF, the money will be paid back, the theory is, because tax values will rise on the properties as they're developed.

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In September, the board of the Michigan Strategic Fund unanimously approved two sets of bonds that will help pay for the $450 million arena, including privately back one for $200 million and a public-vested bond for $250 million. At that time, MEDC president and CEO Michael Finney said that the development is worth the public investment. "I think it's a fair question for our citizenry to ask: Should we subsidize this kind of stuff," Finney said. "In this case, the project is more than just an arena, it really is about redeveloping a 45-plus-block area – nearly 50 blocks – that has been in a deteriorated state for decades." Olympia has promised that 51 percent of the construction work on the site will be done by Detroiters. According to Olympia, the project will have an economic impact of at least $1.8 billion, while creating thousands of jobs, some of which will be permanent. The arena alone will create 8,300 construction and related jobs, in addition to 1,100 permanent jobs, according to the company. Olympia has promised that 51 percent of the construction work on the site will be done by Detroiters. Detroit-based businesses have already won $25 million of the first $30 million in contracts on the arena. Michigan Live LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Red Wings reassign forward Teemu Pulkkinen to Grand Rapids Griffins for AHL playoffs Brendan Savage on April 24, 2015 at 1:26 PM, updated April 24, 2015 at 3:35 PM DETROIT – Forward Teemu Pulkkinen is on his way back to Grand Rapids. After failing to crack the Detroit Red Wings lineup during the first four games of their playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pulkkinen has been reassigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins for Game 1 of their AHL playoff series. Pulkkinen was a healthy scratch as the Red Wings and Lightning split the first four games with Game 5 scheduled for Saturday in Tampa. In 31 regular-season games with the Red Wings, Pulkkinen had five goals and three assists. He led the AHL in goals with 34 despite playing in only 46 games. The Griffins open the AHL playoffs Saturday, when they visit the Toronto Marlies at 3 p.m. Michigan Live LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Red Wings make three late defensive mistakes to give Tampa Bay new life with overtime win Brendan Savage | on April 24, 2015 at 6:06 AM, updated April 24, 2015 at 6:09 AM DETROIT – After playing a near-perfect game for more than 54 minutes, three defensive breakdowns proved costly Thursday night for the Detroit Red Wings. And they might end up costing the Red Wings more than just Game 4 of their Stanley Cup playoff series. The Tampa Bay Lightning erased a two-goal deficit in the final 5:26 of regulation before winning 3-2 in overtime on Tyler Johnson's second goal of the game to even the opening-round series at two games apiece. Now, instead of being on the verge of extinction entering Game 5 Saturday in Tampa, the Lightning will be riding a wave of momentum after regaining home-ice advantage with their first road playoff victory in seven games dating back to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals. "When you're up 2-0 with 10 or seven minutes left, obviously if you lose that game it's disappointing," said Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg. "But that's how hockey is and that's how long series can go sometimes. "They scored two quick ones there in the end and then they came out and scored a third one in overtime. So, I thought we played a good game all the way up to when they scored their first one. "Obviously they got the momentum and we got a little bit on our heels. But we had enough chances to score the third one before they got the first one." The Red Wings took a 2-0 lead into the third period after Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson both scored their first goal of the playoffs in the middle frame. It stayed that way until Johnson ended Petr Mrazek's bid for a third straight shutout over the Lightning at Joe Louis Arena. Johnson blew past Detroit's Darren Helm at the Red Wings' blue line, skated in along the left side of the ice and beat Mrazek on the short side for the Lightning's first goal at Joe Louis Arena in 213 minutes, 32 seconds dating back to the second period of Tampa Bay's 4-3 shootout victory Nov. 9. Red Wings frustrated by OT loss but encouraged by way they played in Game 4 "What's done is done," captain Henrik Zetterberg said after Detroit blew a 2-0 lead in the final six minutes. It also ended Mrazek's home shutout streak against Tampa Bay at 174:34. Tampa Bay's second goal came just 77 seconds after the first and was the result of another defensive breakdown by the Red Wings.

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Ondrej Palat gave the puck to Johnson streaking up the right side of the ice and then crashed the net after skating past Johnathan Ericsson and behind Pavel Datsyuk. Johnson returned the puck to Palat, who one-timed it past Mrazek to tie it with 4:09 left. Finally, the Lightning won it 2:25 into OT on a 3-on-1 break after the Red Wings had turned the puck over inside their own blue line. Victor Hedman drew Mrazek out of the net before sliding the puck to Johnson, who fired it in the wide-open net on the only shot of OT to give the Lightning new life in the series. The Lightning's first goal came two seconds after a 4-on-4 situation expired. "We turned it over on the 4-on-4 and didn't sort out coming back into our zone and they shot it in the net," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "The next one was an O-zone faceoff loss. We're supposed to split and pinch and we didn't pinch and didn't sort out coming back in our zone. And the last one we turned it over. "So when you think about it, as well as we played, those are three crucial mistakes in a short period of time. They're all on us. They're our responsibility. It's not something they did, it's something we did. You got to play the whole 60 minutes. "It doesn't matter who gets hurt, you got to play the whole 60 minutes." Babcock was referring to the loss of defensive specialist Luke Glendening, who missed the final 7:28 of regulation after getting cut on the hand during a skirmish with Hedman. Glendening had been largely responsible for keeping Johnson in check for the first 54 minutes. One person nobody blamed for the loss was Mrazek, who blanked the Lightning 4-0 in the final regular-season meeting between the teams March 28 in Detroit before turning aside 22 shots Tuesday in a 3-0 victory in Game 3 at Joe Louis Arena. "I don't know what he was supposed to do," Babcock said. "That's the problem with the plays. We made the mistakes ourselves. I looked at each goal. I haven't spent the amount of time I'll spend on the flight on them but I thought he was fine tonight. "I didn't think he was tested a ton. I thought he was fine." Mrazek finished with 26 saves while Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop made 22. "You know, I felt great," said Mrazek, who stole Game 1 in Tampa by making 44 saves in his NHL playoff debut. "Same way I did the first game at home here. But it wasn't enough. "It's a hockey game. Who scores more goals wins and they scored three, we had two. Nothing we can do about it anymore, and just think about it for next game." Michigan Live LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Red Wings hope to build off ‘best game' despite losing it By Chuck Pleiness, The Macomb Daily Posted: 04/24/15, 7:08 PM EDT | DETROIT >> The Detroit Red Wings may have played their best game in their opening round playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Thursday at Joe Louis Arena, and lost. They also probably played their worst game in Game 1, and won. “Obviously, it’s a shot in the gut anytime you are in a situation where you think you are in a real good spot and suddenly it goes away that quick,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said Friday, a day after this squad squandered a 2-0 lead late in the third period and wound up losing 3-2 in overtime. “We played a real good game and in five minutes we end up losing the game, so that’s hard. So you get on the flight and by the time you get here (Tampa) you’re done feeling sorry for yourself and you’ve got to get regrouped.” The Lightning scored two times over the final 7:28 of the third and then won it in overtime just 2:25 in. “I’ve been fortunate, I’ve coached a long time, been around a lot of championship teams,” Babcock said. “Every championship team I’ve ever been involved with goes through adversity. What you do is you embrace the adversity and it allows you to get better. Without it, you never, ever win in the end. So to me here’s some adversity, let’s dig in, let’s understand our plan, let’s understand how well we played Games 3 and 4. We were better. “Maybe Game 4 was our best game,” Babcock continued. “So to me that’s a good sign. I believe the series should be 2-2 and that’s where it’s at. So you earn what you got and let’s keep going.” In Game 1, the Wings were outshot 46-14 and skated off with a 3-2 win. “It’s a best of three series now,” Justin Abdelkader said. “We came in Game 1 and didn’t play our best and it was probably a game that maybe we shouldn’t have won. The shots were 40-whatever to 15. They came back to steal Game 4 but I thought we did a lot of good things we can build off, a lot of positives from that game. Obviously it’s not the finish we wanted but you know what? A lot of people never saw us in this position in the first place. It’s 2-2. Now it’s a best of three and we’re confident with the group in here and looking forward to Saturday.” And the Wings as a whole kept reiterating about not having the highs be too high and the lows too low. “Momentum in a series can go back and forth,” Abdelkader said. “I’ve been part a number of series. You’ve got to take it one game at a time. You can’t get too high or too low. It’s a series. It’s not one and done.” Wings coach Mike Babcock when asked what his team has done that he’s liked.

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“Getting into the D,” Babcock said. “Obviously, they’re no different. They’re trying to get into our D, we’re trying to get into their D. When we get into their D we spend time in the offensive zone, have the puck and get chances. “(Thursday) I thought early on in particular we had lots of two on ones,” Babcock continued. “But I like the offensive-zone play and when we execute in our own zone we get on them. They’re trying to do the same thing as us. They want to be on top of our D and they want to execute in their zone and not spend any time in their zone. I don’t think it’s a real scientific formula. There are nuances but if you can spend time in the offensive zone and back their goalie in and be hard on their goalie, you have a chance to win.” Macomb Daily LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Luke Glendening good to go for Game 5 By Chuck Pleiness, The Macomb Daily Posted: 04/24/15, 6:29 PM EDT | DETROIT >> The Detroit Red Wings received some much needed good news Friday, Luke Glendening will play in Game 5 Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Glendening left Game 4, Thursday, after his right hand and thumb were cut during a scrum with seven minutes and 28 seconds left in the third period and the Wings holding a 2-0 lead. The Lightning scored the next three goals, all by the Tyler Johnson line which Glendening’s line was matched up against, to even the best-of-seven first round series at 2-2. “Obviously, disappointed in the way things ended,” Glendening said. “I thought we played a good game (Thursday). We have a lot of things to build on. Now it’s a three-game series, so it’s the first one to four.” Had the overtime gone longer, Glendening, who didn’t know how many stitches he had received, said was close to returning to the ice. “I just like to help the team in any way I can,” Glendening said. “If that’s playing against a line like that then good. If I play five minutes and we win, that’s good as well, too. I’m helping any way I can.” Glendening went out after hitting Johnson along the boards and then a melee ensued with Victor Hedman. “I got jumped after the bump on Johnson and I don’t know what happened after that,” Glendening said. “There are skates everywhere. It could have been anyone. I don’t know whose it was.” Prior to that, Glendening’s line had held Johnson’s line in check. “I’ve watched him in the minors,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I watched him play when they unfortunately beat us in the Calder Cup. He’s, I don’t know how to describe, he’s an extremely responsible player. There aren’t a lot of guys out there like the Glendenings. He’s done a heck of a job on our guys. “To lose a player that plays an extremely important role for them, you look back know because we came back to win the game, so it was potentially a huge factor,” Cooper continued. “He’s a good player for them. There’s no question it had an effect because the triplet line was out there. They just have a vibe going on that first one and for him not to be around I’m sure there was a little bit of an effect.” Glendening’s line, with wingers Drew Miller and Landon Ferraro, had put the clamps on Johnson’s line, with wingers Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, for nearly six periods at Joe Louis Arena.

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“They’re high-skilled, offensively dynamic,” Glendening said. “They work, they can all skate. They’re good in their own zone as well. They’re a tough line to play against, that’s for sure.” Johnson had two goals and an assist on Thursday with Glendening off the ice. “He’s a competitive guy and he’s got a couple goals in the series,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said of Glendening. “He works hard and he does a good job. Obviously, that has a factor in the game but those things happen. I imagine they’ll have Johnny play against (Pavel Datsyuk, Saturday) and Pav’s got to be up to that, and Glenny will get someone else. But that’s part of being at home and part of being on the road.” Datsyuk was on the ice for all three of the Lightning’s goals. “Glenny was right on top of that line the whole game and he left for a bit and they were able to (do that),” Niklas Kronwall said. “But whether he’s in the lineup or not, whether he’s on the ice or not when Johnson’s out there, the rest of us have to do a better job of slowing him down, take away his time and space. We made some mistakes and it cost us.” Macomb Daily LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Gave: Red Wings' matchups get more challenging as series shifts to Tampa Bay KEITH GAVE APR 24, 2015 6:42p ET Tyler Johnson looks for a rebound after a shot on goalie Petr Mrazek during the second period of Game 2. When the puck dropped to start this first-round Stanley Cup playoff series between Detroit and Tampa Bay, Lightning coach Jon Cooper sent out Tyler Johnson to take the opening face-off against the Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk. Must be the matchup Cooper wanted, thought Wings coach Mike Babcock, who may have been a little surprised considering Datsyuk is a three-time Selke Award winner as the NHL's top defensive forward. After Detroit's third-period meltdown Thursday night that ended in a 3-2 overtime loss, we have an inkling of what Cooper had in mind. Tampa has two dangerous scoring lines. One is centered by Steven Stamkos, who finished second among NHL goal-scorers this season with 43. The other is centered by Johnson, whose 72 points tied Stamkos for the team lead. In the coaching chess match that has followed since, Babcock tried to match Henrik Zetterberg against Stamkos, which has worked well to date with Stamkos still looking for his first goal heading into Saturday's Game 5. The Wings coach also tried to match Luke Glendening's line against Johnson's, a lot easier at Joe Louis Arena, where the Wings had the last line change. And it worked great. After shutting out Tampa Bay in Game 3 at the Joe, the Wings held a 2-0 lead with 5 1/2 minutes to play in Game 4. Hold that lead, and they could take a 3-1 series death grip on the heavily favored Lightning. Except they didn't. They couldn't. Not with Glendening out getting his hand stitched up. So Babcock turned to Datsyuk to try to neutralize Johnson. The move had disastrous consequences. Johnson against Datsyuk, and Johnson broke in all alone, skated around Darren Helm and wristed a shot from a difficult angle past Petr Mrazek -- who should have stopped it. The Lightning's deficit was cut in half. Talk about a seismic momentum shift. Just 77 seconds later, Johnson against Datsyuk again, and Johnson carried the puck deep into the Detroit zone to set up Ondrej Palat's tying goal with just 4:09 left to play. You can probably figure out there this is going. Just 2:25 into the extra period, Johnson vs. Datsyuk again -- another turnover, another defensive breakdown -- and Johnson scored the game-winner to even the series and give Tampa Bay a much-needed dose of confidence going home, where the Lightning will play two of the final three games in this series -- if a seventh game is needed.

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The final game summary is as ugly as it gets for some of Detroit's best and most important players. Datsyuk and Helm, so dangerous as an offensive tandem and more than competent defensively, were both minus-3, pointless with just three shots combined. Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson, who typically draw the assignment of playing against the other team's top players, were both minus-2. "Obviously, Luke getting his hand cut and missing the rest of the game, matchup-wise (it was costly)," Babcock said. "Johnson's line then got the next three goals." But the goals went beyond the simple head-to-head matchups, the coach said. "Still, we made some mistakes," he said. "I thought we played a good game, did lots of good things. In the end, we made some mistakes and they capitalized on each one of them." The matchups only get more challenging as the series shifts to Tampa Bay -- especially if Glendening isn't 100 percent. He didn't recall how he was hurt. "I honestly don't know what I caught, a skate or a visor or something," he said. "Obviously, I was frustrated not being able to be out there. (Johnson's) a dynamite player, and when he gets time and space he can do special things." Glendening said he was optimistic about playing in Game 5. "I hope so. Should be," he said, sounding more certain than his coach about that. "Just like all injuries in the playoffs, you never really know until game time," Babcock said. "But the doc says that they've sewn him up and that he's gonna be fine." What's not so fine is Detroit's power play, which is impotent in this series. The Wings, who led the NHL most of the season and finished second overall on the power play, were 0-7 with the extra man in Game 4. They have just two goals in 15 chances, 10th among playoff teams. "Obviously, the power play is an area where we have to improve," Kronwall said. "But other than, I felt like it was a pretty good game by us." Especially on the penalty kill -- which is another area that must be addressed. Wings penalty killers have been spectacular this series, but they've had to be. Detroit, one of the least-penalized teams in the NHL in the regular season, leads the playoffs with 21 minor penalties -- including six more in Game 4. "We're taking way too many penalties this whole series," said Gus Nyquist, who scored the first of Detroit's two goals Thursday. "That's something that we're going to have to change because they've got dangerous guys. And also it disrupts our lines so there's no flow to our game." Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln. . . So what words of wisdom does captain Henrik Zetterberg have for all the younger players who look to him for guidance? "Believe in yourself," Zetterberg said. "We know what we did good and we know what we did bad. Just stay positive and stick with it." foxsports.com LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Notes: Wings' prospect Larkin to decide future after World Championships KEITH GAVE APR 24, 2015 5:10p ET Dylan Larkin, 18, had a fabulous freshman season for the Wolverines with 15 goals and 32 assists for 47 points in 35 games. Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings' No. 1 pick (15th overall) in last summer's NHL Entry Draft, will compete with Team USA in the World Hockey Championships that begin next week in Europe. After that, the Wings say, he'll decide whether to return to the University of Michigan or sign a professional contract and continue his development in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins. "We're happy with whatever decision he makes," Wings Senior Vice President Jim Devellano said. "This is a big step for him. He's never really competed against men before." Larkin, 18, had a fabulous freshman season for the Wolverines with 15 goals and 32 assists for 47 points in 35 games. While the Wings might be comfortable with whatever Larkin decides, they're hoping he might surprise everyone the way Steve Yzerman once did. When Detroit selected Yzerman with the fourth overall pick in 1983, they had every intention of sending him back for another year of junior hockey with the Peterborough Petes. He was small and frail-looking. But from his first day in training camp, he was the best player on the ice -- and he continued to be for the next 23 seasons. Yzerman came into the league at 5-foot-10 (on his tiptoes) and barely 170 pounds. Larkin, who grew up in Waterford Township, is 6-feet, 172 pounds. SCOUTING THE FUTURE Devellano spends most of the hockey season in Sarasota, Florida, just south of Tampa Bay, so he's a regular visitor to Amalie Arena, home of the Lightning. But rather than travel with his team for Game 5 on Saturday (5 p.m. pregame, 6 p.m. face-off on FOX Sports Detroit), he stayed north, preferring to head over to Toronto, his home town, to see the Grand Rapids Griffins start their postseason against the Marlies in the Calder Cup playoffs. Devellano made his reputation as a scout in nearly 50 years in the NHL, and he was anxious to see some of the good, young talent the Wings are stockpiling on their top minor-league roster. Notable among them: Anthony Mantha, Detroit's top pick (20th overall) in the 2013 draft.

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Mantha, 20, is a 6-4, 190-pound center from Longueuil, Quebec, whose first professional season got off to a rough start when he broke his leg at rookie camp last summer. MODEL OF COMPOSURE Look up the word unflappable in the dictionary and you just might find a picture of Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek. Win or lose, shut out in Game 3 or devastating overtime loss in Game 4, he's the same guy. Ask if he was frustrated or disappointed after Thursday's 3-2 OT loss to Tampa Bay that knotted their playoff series at two games each, the 23-year-old Czech shrugged his shoulders. "It's a hockey game," he said. "Who scores more goals wins, and they had three and we had two. Nothing we can do about it anymore. Just think about it for next game." No excuses on any of the goals. "You know, they went in," he said. "We made some mistakes there. A bit disappointing for us right now, but it's over. We have to let it go and get ready for our next game. . . stay positive and go grab the next win." MODEL OF CONSISTENCY On the Monday after the NHL's regular season ended, Commissioner Gary Bettman held his annual conference call with the 30 general managers and coaches around the league, and he started by congratulatING "the seven teams who are back in the playoffs this year" after missing last year. This got Wings GM Ken Holland to thinking. If there are seven new teams in this year, then only nine teams remain that have been to the playoffs even two consecutive years. So he dug a little deeper and found that only eight teams have qualified for the playoffs for three straight years. Four seasons? Just five teams -- Detroit, Pittsburgh (nine), Chicago (seven), the New York Rangers (five) and St. Louis (four). Tends to make Detroit's 24 straight that much more impressive, doesn't it? "It's hard to make the playoffs in this league, really hard," Holland said, sounding grateful to be in the tournament this year while last year's Stanley Cup champ Los Angeles and President's Trophy winner Boston are not. "But now it's time to win," Holland said. foxsports.com LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Wings assign Pulkkinen to Grand Rapids KEITH GAVE APR 24, 2015 1:21p ET Red Wings forward Teemu Pulkkinen, who led the American Hockey League in goals despite playing just 46 games, has been reassigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins on the eve of their opening Calder Cup playoff series with Toronto. A 23-year-old Finnish-born right wing with a deadly shot, Pulkkinen had 34 goals for the Griffins and five more in 31 games with the Red wings this season. His 61 points were second among Griffins this season and tied for 10th overall. He was named an AHL First-Team All-Star this season. Grand Rapids opens its best-of-five series with the Marlies with back-to-back road games Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. The series then shifts to Grand Rapids for the final three games of the series. foxsports.com LOADED: 04.25.2015

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IN THE D: Red Wings Rookie Ferraro Makes Strong Debut in Playoffs By: Keith Gave - Fox Sports Detroit April 24, 2015 Speedy Red Wings forward Darren Helm did it in a run to the Stanley Cup in 2008. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson followed a year later, when the defending champs lost in Game 7 of the finals a year later. Why not Landon Ferraro this year? The Red Wings have a recent tradition of young players seemingly coming out of nowhere, showing up in the playoffs and performing well enough to earn a spot in the everyday lineup. Ferraro, a lanky 23-year-old center-turned-winger in this series, is the latest. His line, with center Luke Glendening and left wing Drew Miller, was, according to coach Mike Babcock, by far Detroit’s most consistent of Detroit four forward lines through three games of their best-of-seven opening round series against Tampa Bay. That’s high praise, especially considering their unenviable task of trying to check one of two very potent Lightning scoring lines centered by Tyler Johnson. “He’s physical, he plays real fast,” Babcock said of Ferraro. “Because they’re such a quick team, we need speed and he gives us speed. When you play with Glennie there’s a sense of comfort, too, because he does the right thing all the time.” Ferraro was a late-season call-up from Grand Rapids, Detroit’s top farm club in the American Hockey League, and scored his first NHL goal in the final game at Carolina. Then the intensity got ratcheted up in the playoffs, and he’s looked anything but out of place. Getting thrown into the fire doesn’t have to be the worst thing in the world, said Ericsson, who speaks from experience. “It could be a good thing, too,” he said. “You don’t know what to expect. You just know everything’s going to be faster, quicker. You know you have to be on your toes be at your best to contribute out there.” Ferraro was one of the Griffins’ leading goal-scorers this season. He was pointless after three games in this series, but that’s not his role. He had four hits and three shots on goal, and he played steady, defensive hockey averaging 12:33 in ice time per game. The most important thing, he said, is keeping up and being aware as much as possible in what is easily the fastest of the eight playoff series in the postseason’s first round. “Knowing what you’re going to do when you get the puck is the biggest thing,” Ferraro said. “The playoffs are a lot tighter. Everywhere you go, there’s someone right on top of you, so you have to make a decision quick and get the puck moving.” That Ferraro, the son of former NHL All-Star Ray Ferraro, is playing so well shouldn’t be a huge surprise for those who follow the Wings’ organization closely since they made him their second pick (32nd overall) in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

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“Lando’s played four years of pro hockey, so it’s not like he hasn’t been around,” Babcock said. “He’s been around a long time. He’s had his ups and downs, but he had 27 goals in the American (Hockey) League this year, and none on the power play, so obviously he can shoot the puck. “Now he’s one of the ones that looks like he could be part of the lineup for awhile.” Ferraro certainly hopes so. “This is a great opportunity for me,” he said between Games 3-4 in Detroit, “and I’m going to do the best I can.” foxsports.com LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Wings-Lightning Game 5 face-off Saturday at 6 p.m. on FSD KEITH GAVE APR 24, 2015 10:47a ET The National Hockey League has finally decided on a starting time for Game 5 between the Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning: 6 p.m. Saturday (5 p.m. Red Wings LIVE pregame) on FOX Sports Detroit. Their best-of-seven opening-round Stanley Cup playoff series is tied at two games each after the Lightning charged from behind with two goals late in the third period and another early in overtime for a 3-2 win Thursday. Because the Wings weren't sure of when the game would begin -- one option had them starting in mid-afternoon -- they changed their schedule and flew to Tampa immediately after Thursday night's game. They were to practice at Joe Louis Arena on Friday before flying out. Instead, they're working out in suburban Tampa today. The starting time for Game 6 in Detroit on Monday will be announced later, along with Game 7 (if necessary) on Wednesday in Tampa. Both those games will also air on FOX Sports Detroit. foxsports.com LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Thursday's best: Johnson produces late goals for Lightning Craig Morgan APR 24, 2015 1:51a ET Best game: Vancouver 2, Calgary 1. We know what you're thinking. How can Tampa Bay's rally not be the best game? Well, for about 55 minutes, it was actually a pretty dull game. The Canucks and Flames never suffered that fate. David Jones gave Calgary an early 1-0 lead, but the Canucks just kept coming, firing 43 shots at Flames goalie Jonas Hiller. Radim Vrbata got the rally started with a perfect feed from behind the net to Nick Bonino, who beat Hiller with a laser off the inside of the far post in the second period. Daniel Sedin won it when he jammed in a rebound of Dan Hamhuis' centering pass 1:47 into the third period as the Canucks pulled within 3-2 in the series, with Game 6 scheduled for Saturday in Calgary. "We didn't think we were going to go away quietly," Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa told the Vancouver Metro. Best stat line: Tyler Johnson, C, Tampa Bay. Johnson avoided a sophomore slump with 29 goals and 72 points this season. On Thursday in Detroit, he may have saved the Lightning's season. With Tampa down 2-0 late in the third period, Johnson blew around Detroit wing Darren Helm — no small feat given Helm's speed — and beat goalie Petr Mrazek with a top-shelf shot to pull the Bolts within 2-1. With 4:09 left in regulation, he threaded a pass through Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall to Tampa forward Ondrej Palat, who had beaten Jonathan Ericsson to the deep slot for an easy tap-in to tie the game. Johnson completed one of the best individual performances of the postseason when he finished off a perfect feed from Victor Hedman for the game-winner at 2:25 of overtime, giving him two goals and a primary assist. "I don't know exactly what happened, don't know how we got a 3-on-1, but we did," Johnson told the Tampa Bay Times. "I was trying to tell (Hedman) to pass to (Nikita Kucherov) in the high slot. He made an unbelievable play right to me, and I was able to get enough of it." Best stat line, Part II: Filip Forsberg's hat trick. The Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) finalists were announced on Thursday, and Forsberg's name was shockingly left off the list. He was bumped by Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad, Calgary forward Johnny Gaudreau and Ottawa forward Mark Stone. How did Forsberg respond? How about three goals in a do-or-die game against the Blackhawks to become the first Predator in history to record a playoff hat trick? The Calder race was strong this season, but Forsberg should have been a finalist. Best at being worst, Darren Helm and Pavel Datsyuk, F's, Detroit. It's not often that you see a minus-3 next to Datsyuk's and Helm's names. Datsyuk finished a team-high plus-12 during the regular season and won three straight Selke trophies from 2008 to 2010 as the NHL's best defensive forward. Helm finished fourth on the Red Wings at plus-7 this season, but both players were caught napping on Tampa's goals. Helm got beat by Johnson down the left wing on Tampa's first goal, Datsyuk lost Palat coming through the slot on the game-tying goal and both players got caught deep in the Tampa zone in overtime, leading to a 3-on-1 rush on the Lightning's game-winning goal.

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Best visual: How is this slash not a slash? It's not the first blatant penalty that officials have missed in this postseason, but Vancouver forward Brad Richardson's slash on Calgary center Joe Colborne was so obvious it begs the question: How did officials miss it? Colborne went to the locker room but returned. That doesn't mean he's OK. These are the playoffs. Regardless, it was a reckless play by Richardson that warranted punishment. Richardson slash on Colborne pic.twitter.com/Uv34ql2pMx — Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) April 24, 2015 Best forward line: Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetzov, Jason Chimera, Washington. The Capitals got all kinds of secondary scoring in Game 5 against the Islanders, and it came from their second line. Johansson, Kuznetzov and Chimera accounted for three goals, seven points and nine hits in a convincing 5-1 win over New York. Washington appears to be getting stronger as this series progresses. Best dilemma: Joel Quenneville, coach, Chicago. Scott Darling had been the, er, darling of this postseason — a goalie who bounced around the low minor leagues before rising to NHL playoff stardom. Darling's magic evaporated in a 2:27 span of the third period of Game 5, however, when Nashville scored three times to post its second rout of the Blackhawks in a series it still trails 3-2. So what does Quenneville do now in Game 6 — a game he has to have? Does he go back to Corey Crawford, who got lit up for nine goals in four periods in games 1 and 2, but was arguably the Blackhawks' best player down the stretch of the regular season? Does he stick with Darling, who had been masterful before Thursday, but has little else on his resume to suggest he can carry a playoff team? Tough call. Best frenetic stretch: Chicago and Nashville. The Blackhawks-Predators series has been a high-paced marketing tool for the NHL this postseason. The first period of Game 5 took that to new heights. Nashville and Chicago went end to end for more than 10 minutes without a whistle and there were only 10 faceoffs the entire period, including the opening draw. If only all playoff hockey could look like this. Best quote, via NHL.com: "As soon as we got that first one, we grew a couple inches on the bench." — Lightning coach Jon Cooper on the team's rally from a 2-0, late third-period deficit to a 3-2, overtime win. Best thing to look forward to Friday: Minnesota at St. Louis, Game 5. As we noted when this series began, both of these teams are good enough to win the Stanley Cup; one will be out in the first round. If you believe in the pivotal and critical nature of Game 5's, this is must-see TV. Will St. Louis be able to impose its physical presence on the Wild as it did in a Game 4 rout? Will the Wild get back to the speed game that carried them to wins in games 1 and 3? Has Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk's mojo run out as he regresses to his mean? Can the Blues take a critical step toward winning just their second playoff series in 12 seasons? All shall be revealed. foxsports.com LOADED: 04.25.2015

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YAHOO SPORTS / Red Wings' secret weapon 'in a real groove' against the Lightning Nicholas J. Cotsonika 12 hours ago The Detroit Red Wings lost Thursday night – and lost control of their first-round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning – because of an injury to … Luke Glendening? That’s why Tyler Johnson came alive so suddenly? That’s why the Bolts stormed back with two goals in 77 seconds late in regulation and another in overtime, stealing a 3-2 victory at Joe Louis Arena and tying the series 2-2? Really? Well, it wasn’t the only reason. But it just goes to show you how critical matchups can be and how quickly things can turn in the playoffs, and you have to know the whole story, including how Glendening went up against Johnson in the Calder Cup final between these teams’ AHL affiliates two years ago. “I think when you’re having as much success as Detroit was having in that game and you lose a significant piece of that, certainly I’m sure it was a factor,” said Jeff Blashill, the coach of the Wings’ AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. “Not to say that the guys who ended up on the ice against Johnson couldn’t keep him in check, because they’re great players. But obviously Luke was in a real groove.” By now you probably know Johnson’s inspiring story. Cut by a team in the USHL, he became the most valuable player of the WHL playoffs and won a Memorial Cup in 2008. Undrafted by teams in the NHL, he became a finalist for the Calder Trophy, which goes to the league’s rookie of the year, when he had 24 goals and 50 points last season. He had 29 goals and 72 points this season. Not bad for a guy who is supposed to be too small at 5-foot-8, 183 pounds. But Glendening has an inspiring story, too. He wasn’t drafted by teams in the NHL, either. He signed with the Wings as a free agent, reported to camp with the Griffins and ended up with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. “To be honest, when our training camp started, I cut Luke as quick as I could,” Blashill said. “He was our first guy cut and sent down.” Glendening went to work and won over the coaching staff in Toledo. Ryan Martin, the Wings’ assistant general manager, who had played a large role in signing him, pushed Blashill to bring him back. Finally, Blashill did – and moved him from wing to center. “He did a good job right away,” Blashill said. “Right away I realized I’d made a mistake in sending him down.”

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Glendening showed he could be a shutdown centerman, especially after he improved on faceoffs. He could skate with top players. He could be hard on them physically. But most important, he could think with them. “Lots of guys who think the game well play at a relaxed pace,” Blashill said. “Lots of guys that work really hard don’t always think the game [really well]. Luke plays extraordinarily hard and yet is an elite thinker. He knows how to angle. He’s not a pure puck-watcher. He knows how to stay with his man and be aware of where the puck is. He knows how to get his stick on the puck in passing lanes. He knows how to get his stick on the puck before guys shoot.” The Griffins faced the Syracuse Crunch in the 2013 Calder Cup final, which featured 15 players who have appeared in this series – not to mention coach Jon Cooper, who has gone from the Crunch to the Lightning. Blashill matched up Glendening against Johnson – virtually all the time at home with the last line change, as much as he could on the road. Johnson entered that series with nine goals and 17 points in 12 games. He had one goal and four points in six games against the Griffins. Glendening had one goal and three points as the Griffins won the championship. “We thought it was a real good matchup, and it proved to be a real good matchup,” Blashill said. “Not that Tyler didn’t get his chances, not that he wasn’t an impact player, because he was. He certainly was one of the better players in the series. But ultimately Luke did a real good job of keeping him in check as much as you can.” Wings coach Mike Babcock was watching. Glendening went on to play most of last season and all of this season in the NHL in a defensive role, while chipping in one goal and seven points in 56 games and 12 goals and 18 points in 82 games this season. Babcock has matched up Glendening against Johnson in this series much like Blashill did, especially in Detroit with the last change. Glendening held Johnson off the scoresheet in Game 3, which the Wings won, 3-0. He was holding him off in Game 4, which the Wings were leading, 2-0. He actually had the same offensive numbers Johnson did in the series: two goals. But with 7:20 to go in Game 4, Glendening shoved Johnson from behind into the boards in the neutral zone, and he and Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman took roughing penalties afterward. The Wings felt Johnson embellished. Johnson would disagree. “I didn’t think that was a very clean play,” Johnson said. However you felt about the hit, it did two things: it put Glendening out of the game – he suffered a cut on a hand in the ensuing scrum and needed stitches – and woke up Johnson. “They’re gunning for him,” said Lightning center Brian Boyle. “When someone’s gunning for you, in a way it’s a compliment. They know what he’s capable of, and they want to get him off his game and contain him. That’s something that every team does to opposing players when they’re elite players. It’s to be expected. He answered pretty loud and clear.”

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Johnson scored a 4-on-4 goal with 5:26 to go, flying past the Wings’ Darren Helm – their fastest skater – and beating goaltender Petr Mrazek. Would Glendening have made a difference? Maybe not. “I’m not so sure if he’d be out there on the 4-on-4,” Cooper said. Then Johnson set up the tying goal with 4:09 to go, threading a pass from the right-wing corner through three Wings and finding Ondrej Palat in front. Would Glendening have made a difference? Believe it or not, probably. It’s sounds like sacrilege, and you’ll never hear the Wings say it. But Pavel Datsyuk – a three-time winner of the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward – is guilty of staring at the puck on occasion. Palat sped in front of defenseman Jonathan Ericsson and behind Datsyuk, whose stick wasn’t in the passing lane. Finally, Johnson scored the winner 2:25 into overtime. Palat won a battle along the boards with Datsyuk and defenseman Danny DeKeyser. The Bolts had a 3-on-1 rush. Victor Hedman passed from right to left across the low slot, and Johnson buried the puck into an open net. Would Glendening have made a difference? Maybe, if he had kept the puck in the Tampa Bay end or gotten back to cover Johnson. Maybe the game wouldn’t have gone to OT at all. “I thought we had them in big-time trouble,” Babcock said. “For whatever reason when we lost Glenny, they got energy, and we didn’t, and they made some plays.” Datsyuk, Ericsson, Helm and DeKeyser all are capable of better. Losing Glendening is no excuse. Still … “He’s just an extremely responsible player, and there’s not a lot of guys out there like the Glendenings,” Cooper said. “He’s done a heck of a job on our guys. To lose a player that plays an extremely important role for them. ... We look back now because we came back to win the game, so it was potentially was a huge factor, but he’s a good player for them, so there’s no question it had an effect.” Amazing how big an effect, isn’t it? YAHOO.COM LOADED: 04.25.2015

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Bob Duff: Are Red Wings confident or delusional? By Bob Duff / Windsor Star There was so much positive affirmation going on inside the dressing room of the Detroit Red Wings Friday afternoon you might not have been surprised if you bumped into Stuart Smalley. Smalley was a Saturday Night Live character portrayed by Al Franken — today a member of the U.S. Senate — who spoke to himself in the mirror to try and build up his self-esteem. “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and, doggonit, people like me,” was Smalley’s signature saying. Nobody in Detroit much liked the way Game 4 of the Wings’ opening-round playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning finished up Thursday night, squandering a 2-0 lead in the last five minutes of the third period and losing 3-2 in overtime. Instead of taking the ice for Game 5 Saturday at Tampa’s Amalie Arena with a commanding 3-1 series advantage, the Wings find themselves deadlocked at 2-2 with two of the next three games in a rink where the Lightning have won 33 of 43 games this season. Just in case you were wondering, the Wings want you to know that they’re OK with how things have unfolded. “There’s funny things that happen,” Detroit left-winger Justin Abdelkader said. “We came out on the wrong end. It’s 2-2. It’s a best of three now. “If you’d have told us at the beginning of the series we could be in this position, we’d take it 10 out of 10 times.” Really? As opposed to – oh, I don’t know – sweeping the set in four games? Now, before you go jumping all over the Wings in anger, what did you expect them to say? Was anyone anticipating someone wearing a winged wheel channeling Private Hudson from the movie Aliens, hopelessly yelling, “Game over man! Game over! What are we going to do now? What are we gonna do?” No, that would be silly. Still, you have to wonder — are the Wings that confident, or are they simply delusional? “We’re real comfortable with the way we’ve been playing, especially over these last two home games,” Detroit right-winger Gustav Nyquist said. “We played real well —

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obviously not the last five minutes of last night’s game – but other than that, we played real solid the last two games.” Fair enough, but it’s a safe bet no one on the Titanic had that sinking feeling prior to hitting the iceberg. Detroit coach Mike Babcock seemed to comprehend the damage that Thursday’s outcome could potentially do to his team’s psyche. “Obviously it’s a shot in the gut anytime you are in a situation where you think you are in a real a good spot and suddenly it goes away that quick,” Babcock admitted. The Wings have played better the past two games, but they also produced an epic fail in Game 4, and history shows us that can have a lingering effect on a team in a series. In 1997, the Dallas Stars were leading the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in Game 3 of their first-round set, just four minutes away from a 2-1 series edge. Edmonton rallied to tie it and won 4-3 in OT, eventually taking the series in seven games. Much earlier, the 1971 Boston Bruins — the NHL’s best regular-season team — led the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 midway through Game 2 of a first-round set, about to go up 2-0. The Habs tallied six unanswered goals, won 7-5, took the series in seven and ultimately, the Stanley Cup. Championship teams do possess the character to overcome adversity en route to titles. But far more teams slip quietly away when things start conspiring against them. We’ll get a good idea of which type of team the Wings are come Saturday.

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