TAMPA, Fla. – If ever a team was tempted to burn the game tape after a win, it was the Detroit Red Wings following their playoff opener.
The Red Wings emerged from thorough domination with a 1-0 series lead against the Tampa Bay Lightning thanks to Petr Mrazek and Pavel Datsyuk. But they realize they must play much better in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Saturday at Amalie Arena (3 p.m., NBC).
“I think we’ve got to skate a little bit more, execute, so we don’t spend so much time in our own end,” Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg said. “Once we got a hold of the puck we didn’t have much energy to do anything offensively. They halved our ice basically the whole game.”
Said defenseman Niklas Kronwall: “Just start playing the game, we were watching way too much last night.”
The Lightning were faster and played with more urgency, outshooting the Red Wings 46-14. They figure to be even more desperate, for fearing of falling into an 0-2 hole.
