After a 4-0 loss on home ice in a matinee game against the New York Islanders on Monday, the Bruins regrouped and seemed ready to go at the start of an 8p.m. puck drop on a Wednesday Rivalry night game against the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena.
Just 44 seconds after the puck dropped, the Bruins rolled out their top line: Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Frank Vatrano to keep Red Wings goalie Jared Coreau busy early. Rookie forward Vatrano scored his third goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. After a short-handed goal from defenseman Brandon Carlo on the Red Wings power play (PP) at 2:25, Vatrano scored his second goal of the game on the Bruins PP, his fifth of the season, with 8:50 remaining in the period.
In his four minutes of ice time, Vatrano netted four shots on goal, scored a pair of goals in seven shifts.
After allowing three goals, Jared was pulled for allowing three shots of the eight shots he faced more than halfway into the period. With backup goalie Peter Mrazek in net, forward Dylan Larkin cut the three-goal deficit down to a pair of goals.
However, a PP late in the period was assessed to Red Wings Defenseman Xavier Ouellet for interfering Marchand. The PP gave the Bruins the opportunity to add a goal as Bergeron converted on Marchand and defenseman Torey Krug’s pass and scored a goal with 59 seconds left in the first period. With assists on the Bruins first two goals of the game and scoring his tenth goal of the season, Bergeron had a three-point night.
The Bruins generated 19 shots on net, which are the most shots the Red Wings have allowed in a period this season.
Quellet opened up the second period with an unassisted goal for his second of the season at 15:39, making it a 4-2 game.
After Ouellet’s goal, the Red Wings started to bounce back into the game. Halfway into the period, forward Andreas Athanasiou notched a goal for 4-3 game. With almost four minutes left in the second, Tomas Tartar tied the game and had the “The Joe” crowd applauding and standing on their feet. After a miscommunication from Marchand to Carlo, Tartar had a breakaway opportunity and capitalized with a backhand goal, his tenth of the season.
Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid scored 21 seconds to break the tie with an assist from forward David Krejci, a 5-4 game at the sound of the horn to conclude the second period. McQuaid’s goal was his first of the season as well as his first goal in 70 games.
After 22 minutes of chasing the Red Wings, Nyquist scored a backhanded goal at 3:04 in the third period to make it a tied game, again—5-5.
Forward David Pastrnak was assessed with a two-minute minor penalty against forward Justin Abdelkader with 2:40 left in regulation. The Bruins killed the penalty to send the game into overtime. Marchand was denied on his attempt on a breakaway shot, which was the Bruins best scoring opportunity in the five-minute period. With 12 seconds left, Vatrano went to the penalty box for holding against forward Anthony Mantha. In the shootout round, Vanek and Frans Nielsen each found the back of Tuukka Rask’s net to lift the Red Wings to a 6-5 win. Both teams earned a point out of the game.
On the loss, Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien said to NHL.com after the game that: “It was a collapse. I’m at a loss for words.”
Bergeron said to NHL.com that: “We were playing great hockey at both ends of the ice in the first period,” before the team allowed the Red Wings to get back into the game.
Bergeron added that Bruins stopped playing their game and gave the Red Wings momentum of the game instead.
“You have to step on a team’s throat in that spot, and we made mistakes and gave them momentum.”
On the Red Wings comeback and ultimately game win, Tatar said to NHL.com that: “If we want to be in the [Stanley Cup Playoff] race, we have to play 60 minutes every night, not 40. We battled, though, and we are very happy now.”
Larkin added in a post-game interview with NHL.com that the Red Wings are “finding different ways to win” to make the playoffs as they are currently out of the playoff picture, just five points behind a wildcard spot as of Thursday night.
Rask said to bostonbruins.com that the team will be facing really good teams in the next few weeks of the season and that the Bruins will have to be ready to play some good hockey.
The Bruins look to regroup and will face the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at TD Garden. The game will be broadcasted on NESN and CSNC.
