TAMPA, Fla. - Ben Bishop stopped 34 shots, Alex Killorn scored with less than two minutes remaining and the Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
Killorn's second winning goal of the series was set up by Ryan Callahan, who retrieved goalie Petr Mrazek's bad pass behind the Detroit net and centered the puck in the crease for Killorn's backhander at 18:17 of the third period.
Related - Watch: Lightning's Killorn scores series clincher off Mrazek misplay
Tampa Bay eliminated the Red Wings in the first round for the second straight year. Detroit pushed the defending Eastern Conference champions to seven games a year ago, but could only beat them once in five attempts this time, with Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov picking up the offensive slack for Tampa Bay with star Steven Stamkos injured.
Detroit only scored eight goals in the series, though not because of a lack of opportunities.
The Red Wings finished 1 for 25 on the power play, and their futility was never more evident than Thursday night, when they failed to even get a shot on goal during a 5-on-3 advantage early in the opening period.
The closest they came during that first power-play was Pavel Datsyuk hitting the post. The Lightning were fortunate again late in the period, when Detroit's Danny Dekeyser also hit the post before the puck glanced off Bishop's right arm.
Just as frustrating was an inability to crack Bishop in the second period, when the Tampa Bay goalie rejected Riley Sheahan, Darren Helm and Dylan Larkin on breakaways that could have snapped a scoreless tie.
Bishop sopped 14 shots in the second and 11 more in the third, two in the closing seconds with Detroit on its fourth power play of the night. Mrazek wasn't tested as often but his teammates played a hand in that by limiting the line of Johnson, Kucherov and Killorn to a combined two shots heading into the final period.
Mrazek, who replaced Jimmy Howard after the Red Wings lost the first two games of the series on the road, finished with 23 saves. He won Game 3 in Detroit 2-0 - his third career playoff shutout - all against the Lightning - but contributed to his own demise this time when he went behind the net but failed to clear the puck.
Notes: Bishop has allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of his last 11 playoff starts, dating to last season. ... Detroit has trailed 3-1 in a playoff series 21 times, but only rallied to win twice - in the first round vs. Toronto in 1987 and vs. the Minnesota North Stars in 1992. ... Earlier Thursday, the Red Wings assigned D Xavier Ouellet to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL, which begins a first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday night.
