Bruins vs Red Wings

Steve Yzerman is a hockey icon because of his career with the Detroit Red Wings. Now he’s built a team that will try to topple his former franchise.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, with Yzerman as general manager, will face the Red Wings in an Eastern Conference First Round series.

Tampa Bay set a Lightning record with 108 points and finished second in the Atlantic Division. Detroit has qualified for the playoffs 24 consecutive seasons, or two more than the Lightning have been in existence. The Red Wings reached 100 points for the 17th time since 1992-93 and finished third in the Atlantic.

One of the marquee matchups in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is sure to be Steven Stamkos against Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Stamkos finished with the second-most goals in the NHL but he is likely to encounter a lot of two of the best defensive forwards in the sport.

The ability of defenseman Marek Zidlicky to create offense from the blue line was well known when the Detroit Red Wings sent a conditional draft choice to the New Jersey Devils for him at the 2015 NHL Trade Deadline last month.

But Zidlicky, 38, has also shown in his time in Detroit that he doesn't shy away from physical play, despite being listed at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds.

A prime example came in the Red Wings 2-1 los to the Washington Capitals at Joe Louis Arena on April 5.

Zidlicky took exception to the way that Washington forward Tom Wilson hit him along the boards and let Wilson and the referees know about it. It was a game where many of the bigger Capitals were banging the Red Wings around with body checks.

DETROIT -- This is the Detroit Red Wings dilemma going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Do they go with a struggling veteran golatender who has a solid playoff track record or a talented young netminder with moxie, who has won some big games but has shown he still has work to do on the craft of consistently keeping the puck out of the net in the NHL?

Jimmy Howard or Petr Mrazek?

Howard had an outstanding first half of the season and was selected to play in the All-

Star Game. But only hours after the All-Star participants were announced, Howard injured his groin against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 10 and missed a month.

Mrazek stepped in and won eight of 11 decisions.

Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings is one of the game's top coaches. He has the Stanley Cup rings and Olympic gold medals to prove his ability.

He is primed to chase another Stanley Cup title, but it might be his last with Detroit. He is in the final year of his contract and his future in Detroit is uncertain. He may be back or may move on to a new challenge.

Either way, he will be in demand after he helps guide the Detroit Red Wings to another championship this spring. The Detroit roster has warts, but if there's one coach capable of getting the most out of any lineup, it's Babcock.

TAMPA -- After spending the first third of the season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, it appeared Vladislav Namestnikov would be going through the postseason with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.

The 22-year-old forward was recalled again March 4, and he's made it hard for coach Jon Cooper to keep him out of the lineup.

Namestnikov, the No. 27 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft, has established a role on the team that gives Cooper plenty of flexibility. He has the scoring touch to play on one of the top two lines if needed but possesses the grit and toughness that make him a good fit on the third line with Cedric Paquette or the fourth line next to Brian Boyle.

He's shown the skill set to be used on either special teams unit and he has three game-winning goals, showing he isn't afraid to make a play with the game on the line.

"[Namestnikov] has shown that he has the ability to play here and he's made it really hard for me to pull him out of the lineup right now," Cooper said. "As we approach the playoffs you want to have a relatively healthy team and play the guys that give you the best chance to win. He's one of those guys."