Petr Mrazek proves the right choice in Red Wings Game 1 win

That Mike Babcock … he pushes all the right buttons. Well most of them at least. After all he is human. And he made the correct move Thursday night by starting Petr Mrazek in goal for Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Mrazek made 44 saves in Detroit’s 3-2 win over the Lightning to take a 1-0 series lead. Overall, the Lightning outshot Detroit 46-14. This should have indicated a Tampa win. Except it didn’t. And now Babcock looks like a genius, at least for one game.

Babcock, who is a coaching free agent this summer, went with Mrazek – a rookie – over veteran Jimmy Howard. It was a move that seemed somewhat questionable, but understandable, since Howard struggled this year with a 2.44 goals against average and .910 save percentage.

What said the man with the golden touch?

“Some nights you have to pick up the goalie when he doesn’t play good, but [Thursday] the goalie picked us up,” Babcock said. “He was unreal. We found a way to win. It wasn’t exactly the way I drew it out but it was a win. We have to get quicker and spend more time in the zone, but we’re happy to be up after one game.”

The Lightning dominated the game from a puck possession standpoint, out-shot attempting the Wings 46-20 5-on-5 according to Natural Stat Trick.

Ultimately, it was the Red Wings old guard, along with Mrazek that helped decide the game. Pavel Datsyuk scored twice for Detroit.

Meanwhile, Lightning coach Jon Cooper didn’t know what else his team could do to win that game. Which probably makes it sting that much more. 

“I couldn’t draw the game up any better than the way we played it,” the Coop said. “It’s tough. You think about games, ultimately, it’s not really how many you score, it’s how many you keep out. When you’re giving up two or less, you’ve got a pretty good chance of winning the game. You give up the third one, now it’s sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t. We were just one short at keeping them out.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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