Boston’s David Pastrnak brought the Red Wings to a full stop with a game winner Tuesday night. The 20-year-old right winger scored the game winner in overtime that gave the Bruins a 4-3 win over Detroit at TD Garden ending a four-game slump and two huge points for their work.
Detroit’s second overtime loss still kept them on a point’s streak but two differences came to play. The Red Wings were without Tomas Vanek and Dylan Larkin due to injuries and faced a division rival once again. Without two of their top scorers on the roster, it leaves Detroit in a vulnerable position as beating the Bruins becomes more important than ever. Despite the fact that Boston sits a point outside the top three of the Atlantic Division, they hold a significant stance against Detroit who are slowly climbing back to contention. With both wanting to gain two important points, the Red Wings would have to step up the pace and bring the heat to Tuukka Rask in net.
Detroit was having trouble right off the faceoff with not a single shot on goal in the opening minutes. It got worse for them as Boston found time with the puck gaining the ability to score first. It was a play that saw Jimmy Hayes making the screen on Detroit goaltender Jared Coreau who was rocked last against the Bruins Jan. 18. The 6’5 forward blocked the 25-year-old goaltender from seeing Kevin Miller lining up for a shot near the boards that gave him his first of the season at 3:39.
The Bruins had already taken ten shots on the Detroit net through the first half of the period showing a huge dominance on home ice. They gained their 12th before Detroit made a solid response. A turnover in the neutral zone by the Red Wings allowed Andreas Athanasiou to chase the loose puck with Brandon Carlo trying to catch up with him. The fast 22-year-old stayed out front going in quickly on Rask going top shelf for his 11th on the year. It was the only shot taken for Detroit with more needed from their end.
Boston knew that they opened the door for the Red Wings and wanted to get the lead back quickly. A shot to Coreau got loose sending the Bruins in to fight the puck in behind him. It got loose for another chance but the net became dislodged saving Detroit. While the Bruins continued notching shots, the Red Wings slowly progressed their offense gaining another two shots through five minutes.
They gained more but also had to stop Boston on their opening power play that came in a move by Jonathan Ericsson to stop a breakaway. They nearly had things figured out but in the final thirty seconds of the man advantage, the Bruins got quick near the net with Brad Marchand scoring on a rebound on front for his 18th and a regain of the lead.
Pastrnak got a second chance at a breakaway in the final seconds going for a backhand on Coreau but the Red Wings goaltender made the important stop to keep them a goal down. The shots on goal ratio was very lopsided seeing Boston taking 21 shots while the Red Wings made seven.
The Red Wings came into the second period with a much better pace than the first. It was contributed by a power play that didn’t see a converted way to tie things up but certainly added power to their lines. Turnovers were still a problem for Detroit who allowed Boston to get some good scoring chances at Coreau. He continued making stops on the surging Bruins who were still running high on shots to the net.
Despite the massive difference in that statistic, the Red Wings remained focused to keep on Boston when it came to scoring. Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg felt that way strongly as he took a hit after delivering the puck to Mike Green. Green wound up firing a shot that deflected off Kevin Miller for his ninth.
They gained their first lead four minutes later on a great read by Tomas Tatar getting possession of a bouncing puck off the boards. He took off waiting for fire away the shot which deflected just enough to get his 11th and the team’s 13th shot in the game. As the game progressed, the Red Wings reached 15 shots matching half of what Boston had shot so far in the game. The goal differential remained the most important as the period came to a close after 40 minutes.
The third saw Detroit increasing their way of looking better on paper as they did on the scoreboard. The charge of shots showed their will to battle the Bruins while keeping them from leveling the game at three all. Detroit had almost half the period gone but a charge from the Bruins had them attacking a loose puck after it went off Coreau. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get hold of the puck that the Bruins grabbed with Marchand going for a wraparound attempt for his second of the night.
With the game tied once more, every move by the Red Wings and Bruins became so critical. Whether they were on 4 on 4 play or full strength, the teams knew that gaining the upper hand while time remained on the clock was huge to prevent going to overtime. They both played well on defense that had the net minders unwilling to give up anything cheap in the final minutes. At the end of regulation, Boston had shot 47 against Coreau while Detroit got took 24 to Rask.
Three on three play began the five-minute period where Detroit won the faceoff but lost control of the puck. They had to scramble to stop them doing so by cutting off the shooting line. Boston was outshot by the Red Wings but still showed more strength getting any play going in the Detroit zone. As the teams blew off most of the time, it came to just 60 seconds standing between them and a shootout.
The Bruins used what energy they had left to go for broke. Pastrnak went for a run down the low end shooting the puck from the faceoff circle that brought a halt to proceedings with a goal top shelf. It was his 20th of the season and the positive ending that the Bruins had waited so long for. While Rask skated off the ice with 23 saves, his counterpart across the way had plenty to be pleased about.
Coreau stopped a career high 45 against the Bruins in a game that turned out better than the one he faced just a week ago. Though he saw his first loss in some time, the strong Red Wings goaltender would get another shot returning home to face the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday.
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