Postgame: Red Wings @ Lightning – Game 5 – 4/21

Knowing that Pavel Datsyuk’s time with the Detroit Red Wings is probably over, it’s kind of hard to look at the team’s 1-0 loss in the context of anything but that.

That said…

To me, the most telling thing about this game was the first period. In a must-win game, with an early five-on-three, the Red Wings didn’t even look threatening with a two-man advantage. They got better throughout the game, but that was just a brutal start, a wasted opportunity, and it set the tone for the rest of the night. It could just have easily been the Red Wings getting a lucky bounce to break the tie late as it was the Lightning, but there wasn’t the same feeling of expectation. The Lightning took advantage of their opportunities. The Red Wings didn’t.