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 "It's a good win. The guys played a great team game," Bishop said.
"We hung on there in the third period. It's definitely nice to win
in front of these fans. You try to keep your team in as long as you
can ... we definitely came on in the third."
Tampa Bay moves on to face the Montreal Canadiens, starting Friday
night in Quebec. Tampa Bay won all five meetings with Montreal
during the regular season after being swept by the Canadiens in the
opening round of the playoffs last year.
The Lightning were outshot 23-12 by the Red Wings in the first two
periods but took the lead with 16:02 left in the third when
defenseman Braydon Coburn scored his first goal for Tampa Bay,
beating Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek, who had two shutouts in the
series.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," said Coburn, limited to four games
with Tampa Bay during the regular season because of a foot injury
suffered shortly after he was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tampa Bay added an empty-net goal from defenseman Anton Stralman
with 1:19 left to secure the win. Detroit had not been shut out in
Game 7 of a playoff series since 1964.
"We couldn't find a way to get the puck in tonight," Detroit left
winger Henrik Zetterberg said. "(Bishop) was good. He played well
the whole series. So did our goalie. Two good teams going at it, it
went to seven games and unfortunately we couldn't get it done
tonight."
Coburn broke the scoreless tie early in the third period when he
one-timed a long shot on an assist from right winger Ryan Callahan,
beating Mrazek to the top right corner of the net.
"We had the puck a lot," Detroit coach Mike Babcock of the missed
opportunities. "I thought we gave ourselves opportunities to score."
Detroit had outshot the Lightning 23-12 in the first two periods,
but Bishop stepped up, making key saves to outduel Mrazek, who had
two shutouts in the series.
Bishop made a close-range save on a shot by Zetterberg with 10:54 to
play, then a glove save for another stop with 9:20 remaining.
The Lightning nearly took a 2-0 lead late in the third, but a goal
by Stralman with 7:14 remaining was waved off because of a penalty.
The teams played to a scoreless tie entering the third period, with
Bishop and Mrazek dueling as they had throughout the series.
Bishop made 23 saves in the first two periods, including a flurry at
the end of the second period to keep the shutout going.
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Mrazek needed only 12 saves to do the same, including a key stop on
a short-handed breakaway by Lightning center Tyler Johnson early in
the second period.
Both teams had power-play opportunities -- three each for 4:29 in
the first two periods -- but the penalty-kill units continued to
play well, a trademark in the series.
Lightning center and captain Steven Stamkos, held scoreless in the
first six games of the series, was again quiet early, with only two
shots in the first two periods. Johnson, who had six goals in the
first six games, was limited to one shot on goal.
Left winger Tomas Tatar, with three goals in the series, led the Red
Wings with four shots entering the third period.
The Lightning rallied in the series to force Game 7 -- they trailed
2-0 with six minutes left in Game 4 and won in overtime, then
trailed 3-2 in the series before winning Monday in Detroit to force
the final game.
NOTES: Detroit played without D Niklas Kronwall, who was suspended
one game for charging Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov in Game 6. ...
Kronwall and D Marek Zidlicky, who played the first six games in the
series, did not dress, and the Red Wings went with D Brendan Smith
(fifth game in series) and D Alexey Marchenko (third game). ... The
Lightning made rookie LW Jonathan Drouin a healthy scratch for the
sixth time in seven games, with RW J.T. Brown and D Mark Barberio
also scratched. Brown played in five of the first six games. ...
Tampa Bay Rays 3B Evan Longoria showed his support for the Lightning
by having the words "GO BOLTS!" written on his eyeblack during
Wednesday's game against the Yankees in New York.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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