Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning face-off in Game 7 of their Round 1 Eastern Conference best-of-seven series live from the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It's win or go home as Detroit looks to advance in its second opportunity after failing to do so on home ice while Tampa Bay hopes to stave off elimination for the second straight game by returning home.
These teams have alternated wins with the Red Wings taking Games 1 (3-2 final), 3 (3-0) and 5 (4-0) and the Lightning winning Games 2 (5-1), 4 (3-2 overtime) and 6 (5-2).
The winner of this game goes on to play the Montreal Canadiens, who eliminated the Ottawa Senators in six games, in Round 2. This contest closes out Round 1 fo the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.
This game can be live streamed for free here.
Both teams are 1-2 in their own buildings in this series, but the Red Wings know they have a tall task of beating the Lightning in their own building, where they won an NHL-best 32 games in the regular season.
"It's a Game 7, we're excited to play and we've played well in their building," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said per NHL.com. "We made mistakes [Monday] that led to giving up three goals, and we can't afford to do those things again. We gave them space. They were able to show skill, and we turned the puck over in the wrong spots."
The Lightning is happy to extend the series, but don't want a letdown now.
"Our big victory in Game 6 means nothing if we don't pull out Game 7," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told NHL.com.
One player who's had a huge series for Tampa Bay is Tyler Johnson as he leads the team with seven points and is tied for the NHL playoff lead with six goals. Johnson has scored two tallies in all three games that the Lightning has won in this series.
Nikita Kucherov has four points in the series while Alex Killorn (two tallies) is the only player besides Johnson to have more than one marker in the set. Steven Stamkos (three assists) lit the lamp 43 times in the regular season, but has yet to find the twine in this series.
Kucherov was leveled by Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall in Game 6 and while no penalty was assessed on the play and he didn't get injured, Kronwall was suspended for Game 7 by the NHL's Department of Player's Safety.
Tomas Tatar had two goals in the Game 6 loss for Detroit and is tied with Pavel Datsyuk for the team lead with three tallies. Datsyuk is first on the Red Wings with five points this series. Luke Glendening and Riley Sheahan have found the back of the cage twice thus far during this series.
In between the pipes, Detroit turns to rookie Petr Mrazek and he owns a 3-3 record with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in the series.
Tampa Bay counters with Ben Bishop in the blue paint and he is 3-3 with a 2.18 GAA and a .904 save percentage.
It's do-or-die when the puck drops on the Red Wings and Lightning live tonight from the Amalie Arena in Game 7 of this opening round Stanley Cup playoff series.
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