Lightning strikes Mrazek to even series against Red Wings

Maybe Detroit coach Mike Babcock doesn’t have the magic touch after all. After tagging Petr Mrazek as the team’s starter for Game 1 against Tampa, and Mrazek coming up with a sterling performance, Mrazek turned into a pumpkin in Game 2. Or something like that.

Tampa won 5-1 to even the series at 1-1 and Mrazek was yanked after allowing four goals on 18 shots on goal.

“I think Petr played good, we have to give him a chance,” Babcock said. “We didn’t make a lot of mistakes, but when we did, they capitalized, and you can’t expect your goalie to make all those saves. So it’s a five-game series now and we’ll focus on Game 3.”

Maybe it was more Tampa’s offense and its fast forwards than Mrazek.

Just look at this absurd Tyler Johnson goal. Nice wheels:

“We knew we had to step up our [game] and we did, it’s nice to be able to contribute,” Johnson said. “It was a physical game. We were frustrated we didn’t win Game 1 and I thought the guys came out with that spirit right away. Our mentality is to get better with every game.”

He had two scores in the game. 

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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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