By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
Lightning 3, Red Wings 2 – The Tampa Bay Lightning pushed the Red Wings to the brink of elimination after their Game 4 win on Tuesday night.
The Lightning lead the best of seven series 3-1 and will look to knocked Detroit out of the playoffs for the second straight season.
Tampa Bay was led by Nikita Kucherov with two goals and an assist while Jonathan Drouin chipped in with three assists.
Darren Helm and Gustav Nyquist each scored a goal for the Red Wings, while Riley Sheahan, Luke Glendening and Brendan Smith each picked up an assist.
Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek took the loss, stopping 30 of 33 Tampa Bay shots.
1st Round: Tampa Bay leads series 3-1
# wins to Stanley Cup Championship: 15
# wins to Eastern Conference Championship: 11
# losses to elimination: 1
Record: 41-30-11 93 pts
Tied for 3rd Place in Atlantic Division (8 pts behind Florida)
Tied for 7th Place in Eastern Conference (25 pts behind Washington)
Clinched a 25th straight playoff berth
Eliminated from Central Division and Eastern Conference title contention
Next Game: 04/21/2016 Game 5 of 1st Round @ Tampa Bay Lightning @ Amalie Arena
Stats: Goals- Darren Helm (1), Gustav Nyquist (1). Assists- Luke Glendening (1), Riley Sheahan (1), Brendan Smith (1). Goalie- Petr Mrazek L (1-1) 30 saves on 33 shots.
Royals 8, Tigers 6- The Tigers fell short of a comeback win against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
The Royals had a 5-0 and 8-2 lead before Detroit closed out the game scoring four runs to cut its deficit.
Kansas City was led by Salvador Perez with a double, home run and five RBIs while Alcides Escobar chipped in with two runs knocked in.
The Tigers were paced by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who hit his team leading fifth home run of the season, while Miguel Cabrera doubled and knocked in two runs.
Detroit’s starting pitcher Shane Greene struggled, allowing seven runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings while walking four and striking out two batters.
The Tigers will look to even the three-game series with a victory over the Royals on Wednesday night.
Record: 7-5
3rd Place in AL Central Division (1.5 games behind Kansas City)
1/2 game ahead of Cleveland and Toronto for last playoff spot
Magic # to clinch a playoff spot: 151
Magic # to clinch an AL Central Division title: 152
Next Game: 04/20/2016 @ Kansas City Royals 7:15 p.m. @ Kauffman Stadium
Hitting stats: Jarrod Saltalamacchia HR (5) 3 RBI (14), Miguel Cabrera 2B (3) 2 RBI (6), Victor Martinez RBI (8).
Pitching stats: Shane Greene L (1-1) 4.1 IP 6 H 7 R 7 ER 4 BB 2 K.
