Experienced Red Wings Exposing Young Lightning's Shortcomings After Game 5 Win

There's no substitute for what the Detroit Red Wings stars have in spades—playoff experience.

The Red Wings' new starting goaltender may be a rookie, but it's the overall experience of a team that has made the playoffs an incredible 24 straight seasons that has pushed the young, talented and ultimately fragile-looking Tampa Bay Lightning to the brink in their first-round Eastern Conference matchup.

Freshman goalie Petr Mrazek was again impressive Saturday, posting his second shutout in three games with 28 saves against the Bolts in Tampa to give the Wings a 3-2 series lead following a 4-0 win. Half of those shots came in the third period as the Lightning made a desperate attempt to salvage the game.

The Bolts were able to do exactly that in Game 4 with a heroic effort from Tyler Johnson, who scored and set up a goal in the final five minutes to send the game to overtime, then potted the winner himself to tie the series.

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Things went the other way Saturday, with Pavel Datsyuk—still a superstar at 36—giving the Wings a three-goal lead late in the game with a power-play tally at 15:47 of the third period.

Danny DeKeyser hit the empty net to put an exclamation point on the Wings' victory.

The Red Wings quickly learned their mistakes letting up in the last game.

Guys like Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall have seen every situation imaginable come up in their careers. They're able to not only communicate confidence to their teammates, but they lead by example and get things done on the ice.

And they're taking advantage of a Lightning group that is short of star power in the playoffs.

	2014-15 stats	Playoff games
Steven Stamkos	43-29-72	27
Tyler Johnson	29-43-72	9
Nikita Kucherov	29-36-65	7
Ondrej Palat	16-47-63	8
Ryan Callahan	24-30-54	68
Victor Hedman	10-28-38	27

"A team that's used to scoring, you take the overtime out of this, we've gone eight of nine periods without scoring," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper lamented to reporters following the game, via Bolts NHL beat writer Bryan Burns.

As incredible as they have been in the regular season over the past couple of years, finishing with 108 points and 50 wins this season and 101 with 46 victories a year ago, their youthful exuberance, speed and skill is countered by Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock's systems, savvy leaders and, yes, some favorable calls that tend to go against the other guys.

As much as you'd like to believe that never happens, there is a certain psychology that leads to at least the impression of it taking place with a team as respected as the Wings, with players like Datsyuk a perennial consideration for the Lady Byng Trophy.

But beyond that controversial idea, the stars are shining for the Wings. Not so much for the Bolts.

While Datsyuk (three goals and four points) and Zetterberg (three assists) are contributing to big plays at meaningful moments for the Red Wings, only sophomore Tyler Johnson (four goals and five points) has been able to make any sort of memorable impact on the series for the Lightning.

The Lightning have enough skill to gain entry with slick puck movement, and when that isn't working, they also have a strong forecheck that counts on speed to create chances and turnovers.

Neither strategy is working against the Wings, with Babcock's defensemen making sure they stand up the forwards at the blue line.

The Bolts' biggest star, Steven Stamkos, has struggled, to say the least.

"I want to produce. It's not for a lack of effort. I'm working my ass off out there," Stamkos told Toronto Sun writer Terry Koshan after the game.

Effort isn't the problem. Execution is. So far, this has been another learning experience for a young team with the talent but not the experience to make a deep playoff run.

"Playing well for 25 of 60 minutes, it's not going to cut it against a team in the playoffs," defenseman Anton Stralman told reporters, while also suggesting the team has plenty of time to adjust.

Well, one. Maybe two.

Steve Macfarlane has covered NHL hockey for more than a decade, including seven seasons following the Calgary Flames for the Calgary Sun. Follow him on Twitter at @macfarlaneHKY.