In his last five wins, Petr Mrazek has allowed either one or zero goals, earning back to back shutouts, guaranteeing the Red Wings their 12th 100 point season of the last 13, and clinching the 3rd spot in the Atlantic division. The Red Wings will open the first round of the playoffs likely on Thursday against the team who Petr Mrazek's prior shutout came against, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Petr Mrazek could end up starting in the first round of the playoffs over Jimmy Howard after his big time performance tonight once again. He has been a force for the Red Wings, and looks to take over the reigns from Jimmy Howard, who has been a big presence in net for the Red Wings since Chris Osgood retired. He finished with a record of 16-9-2, earning the win in 16/27 games, which equals out to almost 60% of his games in the NHL level.
Tomas Tatar lead the Red Wings with 29 goals this season, while Jimmy Howard lead with 23 wins, and Henrik Zetterberg, the captain of the Red Wings team ended up leading with 49 assists.
The Red Wings were without many starters tonight. Justin Abdelkader and Erik Cole are both out with injuries, while Howard was given the night off, and Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Kronwall were all rested in favor of younger players, including Landon Ferraro, Ray Ferraro's son, who scored his first NHL goal forty seconds in, which would turn out to be the game winner. It was a relatively boring game, as there were not very many scoring chances for either squad, and it was mostly back and forth action which resulted in a large majority of play in the neutral zone.
The other goal scorer tonight was Joakim Andersson, who ended up scoring an empty netter for the Red Wings in the win. Petr Mrazek allowed no goals for the Hurricanes, who finished the season on a low note, hoping to earn a high draft pick in the upcoming McDavid/Eichel sweepstakes this June.
The Red Wings however, finished on a high note, and will be playing the Lightning in the first round of the playoffs. Led by Steven Stamkos at forward and Ben Bishop in net, the Lightning have been a good team all year, and it should make for a very fun playoff series. It will be the first time the Red Wings and Lightning have met in the first round, and also the first time the Red Wings have met Steve Yzerman as opposition in the playoffs, as he is the Lightning GM. Valterri Fillpula is also a name many Red Wings fans might remember, as he signed with the Lightning from Detroit as well.
With Pittsburgh and Ottawa winning tonight, the Bruins, the team that knocked the Red Wings out of the playoffs last year, will not be in the playoffs. This is good news for the Wings, as they appeared to be a bad matchup in a potential future round of the playoffs this season.