Petr Mrazek earned the start at goalie in game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Grand Rapids Griffin saved 44 shots – a new Red Wings record in a debut. Some of them were impractical, but he still made them.

Seven penalties against us put Detroit at a constant disadvantage. Nonetheless, we fought through it to win 3-2. Pavel Datsyuk dropped the first two in against another rookie goalie. The final was a miraculous short-hander where the Lightning gave up on defense, and a spinning Luke Glendening made them pay!

Tampa Bay came out with the energy, but they couldn’t do anything with it. After the first timeout, the Red Wings scored promptly on a Datsyuk redirect. We had picked up our skating speed and found ourselves on a power play. That’s when they tied it, taking one the distance on a short-handed breakaway. Bummer.

We managed to end the first period on a power play. Right from the drop in the second, Darren Helm centered it to Datsyuk for a sharp one-timer! It stayed 2-1 all the way through the period. Our goalie not only stopped their shots, but two penalties when they ran right into him. (Just be careful behind that net, G!)

They took 46 shots to our 14 on the night. The biggest way to prevent that is the forecheck. You have to play defense aggressively. You don’t play off your opponent and wait, you keep them in front of you and take the puck (or ball) away from them. After that 2-1 lead, which they say is the worst in hockey, you tend to protect your advantage instead of proactively pursuing more goals.

We never really tried that hard to score another. Without any offense, the shorthander was the difference, putting us up 3-1 at the time. With ten minutes to go, one finally went in for Tampa Bay. Detroit just had to find a way to finish it off.

We killed another penalty and faced an empty-net with two minutes left. Looking like we were good, the refs blew a ticky-tack whistle with 17 seconds left. Glendening got ahold of the puck after a timeout and kicked it essentially to safety – the Lightning ran out of time, and the Red Wings out of their building with a game one win.

Luckily, we have tomorrow off. So we can learn from all the mistakes we made and play the way we’re capable of Saturday. Welcome to the playoffs, Detroit!