DETROIT -- The changes for the Detroit Red Wings are going well beyond the venue as the series with the Tampa Bay Lightning shifts to Joe Louis Arena for Sunday night’s Game 3. Puck drop is 7 p.m. ET.
In case you haven't been following along, here’s a look at What to Watch For as the Lightning look to build on their 2-0 series lead:
Detroit is making a shift in goal after dropping the first two games in Tampa, with coach Jeff Blashill turning to Petr Mrazek in place of Jimmy Howard. Howard was hardly to blame for the two losses earlier in the series, although his numbers aren’t great either, with an .891 save percentage on 64 shots.
Mrazek wasn’t particularly good down the stretch for the Red Wings, who relied on the veteran Howard to get them in the playoffs. After briefly entering the Vezina conversation at midseason, the bottom fell out for Mrazek after the All-Star break, where he finished with an .899 save percentage in 21 games.
That said, Mrazek’s best game is better than Howard’s best game and he has the potential to steal one. He was strong against Tampa last year in the playoffs and Blashill thinks the time off while Howard did the heavy lifting benefited Mrazek.
“Sometimes you need some time away,” Blashill said. “He’s worked really hard with [goalie coach] Jim Bedard to work on some of the things: getting his feet set, making sure he has good management of the crease. Those type of things make him real successful.”
The Red Wings are also plugging in defenseman Brendan Smith, although whom he's replacing on defense will be a game-time decision. Smith gives the Red Wings more mobility on the back end and will help the breakout, which has struggled at times against a fast, skilled Lightning team. He objected when it was suggested that he’s being plugged in just to produce offense, since his game is more than that. Where he’ll have an impact is getting the puck quickly out of the defensive zone and jumping into the play on offense. The key will be finding that balance while managing turnovers, since turnovers hurt Detroit earlier in this series.
Tampa will put Erik Condra into the lineup in place of the injured J.T. Brown (upper body), slotting him on a line with Mike Blunden and Brian Boyle.
“I like that mix,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “They’ve played together before; they’ve been really effective. It should be a seamless transition.”
Condra is a native of nearby Trenton, Michigan, and Cooper joked that his ticket count shot up with his appearance in the lineup. He has playoff experience from his time with the Ottawa Senators and was especially productive during the 2013 postseason, when he had seven points in 10 playoffs games for the Senators.
Tyler Johnson remains the focus of the Lightning offensive attack, with six points in two games continuing his mastery against Detroit in the playoffs. Finding a way to slow him down will be the key to the Red Wings getting back in the series. Blashill appeared to be constructing a shutdown line of Luke Glendening, Riley Sheahan and Justin Abdelkader, but warned not to read into the morning skate lines too much. More important than defending Johnson will be forcing him to play defense on the other end of the ice, a point not lost on Blashill.
“The more you make them defend, the better you’ll be,” Blashill said. “However many goals they have, they may have one more chance than that. They’ve been very good at scoring on their chances.”
When Johnson has been on the ice at even strength, the Lightning have controlled 58.1 percent of the shot attempts, a number 7.3 percent higher than his teammates'. That number needs to drop considerably with the shift to Detroit and the Red Wings employing last change.