Just as in the Detroit Red Wings’ first win in their series against Tampa Bay, the stars of Game 3 were Pavel Datsyuk and Petr Mrazek. Datsyuk scored the first goal of the game, and Mrazek did the rest, turning aside all 22 shots he faced in a 3-0 win. There were some differences between this win and Detroit’s first of the series, though, and those differences make this game far more important to the Red Wings.
At the top of the list is Mrazek himself. He surrendered four goals on just 18 shots in a Game 2 loss, and while much of the blame falls on his teammates (the goals against were, in order, two shots from point-blank range, a cross-ice one-timer from point-blank range and a breakaway goal), it wasn’t the kind of game that the young goalie will be adding to his scrapbook any time soon.