The Detroit Red Wings will play a Game 7 Wednesday at Tampa Bay’s Amalie Arena.

Of that we are certain.

What we don’t know is if the Wings will play their biggest game of the season minus their best defenseman.

Niklas Kronwall was not penalized for a late second-period hit on Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay in Game 6 of their Stanley Cup playoff series Monday at Joe Louis Arena, but replays clearly showed that Kronwall’s arm connected with Kucherov’s head.

How the NHL’s department of player safety assesses the play with countless opportunities to scrutinize the video could prove to be vastly different than what the game officials decided in a split-second opportunity.

“I haven’t seen it in replay so I really can’t say too much about it,” Kronwall said after the game. “I thought it was a clean hit at the time.”

Kronwall also felt that his momentum following the hit forced him off his feet and that he wasn’t airborne when he connected with Kucherov.

“Yeah, usually when you go, the impact itself carries you up,” Kronwall reasoned.

Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar, who scored both Detroit goals to pull them back to within one at 3-2 after falling behind 3-0, viewed Kronwall’s hit was a momentum changer and not a suspendable offense.

“He hit Kucherov, one of their good players,” Tatar said. “Playoffs is a tight game, lots of hits. One of these hits will get the team going, get the building going.

“We felt like we were on the horse.”

It all likelihood, Kronwall, one of the league’s more rugged bodycheckers who has never been suspended during his NHL career, won’t feel the wrath of supplementary discipline. The hit didn’t appear to be blatant enough to warrant sitting him down for Game 7 of the series.

Even Lightning coach Jon Cooper seemed to agree with that assessment.

“The refs didn’t call a penalty, so it must have been OK,” Cooper said.

Stubbing Their Toes
Left with a chance to close out the Lightning, the Wings started poorly and fell behind quickly.

“I thought we were going to come out a little bit faster and get pucks in a little quicker, but we rebounded pretty quick,” Detroit forward Landon Ferraro said. “I thought we played pretty good hockey but there were a couple of goals we gave them.”

A pair of bad line changes led to Lightning goals as Detroit coach Mike Babcock felt his team put themselves behind the eight-ball.

“I thought we got out of control there for a couple of minutes,” Babcock said. “They can play like that, just because they’re skilled and they can score like that. We can’t play like that and win.

“Would we have liked to win the series tonight? One hundred percent.

“We didn’t. Let’s get ready to play. We have to get our mind right again and get ready for a Game 7.”

Third-Time Lucky?
The Wings have won twice at Tampa in the series already and have won all the odd-numbered games, taking Games 1, 3, and 5.

“No team’s been able to win two games in a row thus far in the series, so let’s go to Tampa,” Babcock said.

Detroit last won three road games in the same playoff series in the opening round of the 2010 Stanley Cup against the Phoenix Coyotes, winning Games 2, 5, and 7 away from home.

Stick Save And A Beauty
People will be talking about Petr Mrazek’s second-period stop on Tampa Bay’s Brian Boyle for many days. Boyle deked around Mrazek and fired for the gaping cage, only to see Mrazek reach back and swat the puck out of mid-air with the paddle of his goal stick.

“I see a few of those from him,” Tatar said. “He does it in the practice.

“You think the puck will go in and all of a sudden he puts the stick out or it goes off his pants.”

Tyler Made
If the Wings want to emerge victorious in this series, they need to find a way to put a governor on Lightning center Tyler Johnson.

Johnson scored twice in Game 6, giving him six goals for the series and a share of the Stanley Cup goal-scoring lead.

“I think it’s just him not stopping,” Detroit’s Landon Ferraro said of Johnson’s hot streak. “He fights through everything and he makes sure that he gives himself good looks at the net.

“He’s a player that he doesn’t need six chances in a game. He just needs one or two. He had those tonight and he took advantage of them.”

Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer

Join the Discussion: » 110 Comments » Post New Comment

» Five of Last Six First Rounders To Start Season In AHL

» Zadina, Veleno sent down

» Opening-Night Roster Not Set In Stone

» Back Where Pro Hockey Started

» Abdelkader Looking To Bounce Back