NHL Playoffs: Lightning vs. Red Wings Game 3 recap, full highlights

Highlights from the Detroit Red Wings‘ 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first round playoffs.

After being punched in the mouth in the first two games of the Eastern Conference first round playoffs, the Detroit Red Wings responded with an impressive 2-0 win home win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 on Sunday night.

The big news pregame was Detroit replacing the struggling Jimmy Howard in goal with Petr Mrazek. Mrazek left some big rebounds, but made nine saves in a scoreless first period.

Perhaps more importantly, the Red Wings matched the physicality and tempo of the Lightning early, and looked much better in the first period Sunday than at any point in Game 1 or 2. Still, Ben Bishop denied a number of great scoring chances, and the Lightning killed off a long five on three late in the period.

Detroit continued to generate some great chances in the first half of the second, but had trouble putting shots on target as the Lightning killed another two penalties. Andreas Athanasiou, who hasn’t received much playing time lately, looked terrific in Game 3 and finally broke through for the Red Wings at the 12:42 mark.

The lead became 2-0 ten minutes later when Henrik Zetterberg scored for just the second time in 26 games on a wild scramble in front of net that included three broken sticks. Surprisingly, Mrazek didn’t face too much pressure in the second, as Tampa Bay was unable to generate nearly the same amount of offense as in the two games in Amalie Arena.

Three Tampa Bay Power Plays led to some momentum in the third, but Mrazek made a few good saves to seal the 2-0 win and narrow the Lightning’s series lead to 2-1. Detroit put more speed on the ice in Game 3, which helped negate the attack of Tampa Bay’s potent Tyler Johnson-Alex Killorn-Nikita Kucherov top line.

Three stars

3. Petr Mrazek, G, Detroit. Didn’t have to do too much for most of the game, but played better than Howard with 16 saves.

2. Brendan Smith, D, Detroit. In first game since being benched on March 26, provided nice spark defensively and set the tone with a huge early hit.

1. Andreas Athanasiou,C, Detroit. Responded to increased ice time by generating several scoring opportunities, including the first goal of the game.

Full highlights

"Situation Room Presented by Samsung: Should this one be a goal? #CloserToTheGame @SamsungCanada https://t.co/JUbGbPTjrx— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 18, 2016"

Next game

The Red Wings will try to even the series on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

For more coverage of the NHL Playoffs, make sure to check out our NHL hub page.