Bruins edge Red Wings in overtime 3-2

Tomas Tatar #21 of the Detroit Red Wings battles for a loose puck with Noel Acciari #55 and Sean Kuraly #52 of the Boston Bruins during an NHL game at Little Caesars Arena on December 13, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Boston Bruins made everything count in the late stages of the game that got them a victory at Little Caesars Arena Wednesday night. An overtime goal from Brad Marchand denied the Detroit Red Wings a victory for two points in their 3-2 win in overtime. It gave Boston a three-game winning streak while handing Detroit’s its third straight defeat.

The Red Wings attempted for the second time to try and stop another losing streak after their close defeat to the Florida Panthers Monday. It has tremendous difficulty in getting a win against the Bruins who looked for their third in a row. Goaltender Tuukka Rask got the start for his chance at a fifth straight win. In their first visit to the new Arena in Detroit, their Original Six rivals would put everything on the line to get ahead of Boston and gain points.

They didn’t start on time as the Bruins went on a full attack in the Detroit zone shooting four at Jimmy Howard who was yet again in net. Detroit got into trouble when they had too many men on the ice. The Red Wings avoided giving the Bruins a leg up in the score and killed it before finding their opportunities to get into action. They attacked Rask with a few shots showing that they were able to be competitive.

By the halfway point, the Red Wings accumulated seven shots while holding Boston to the two that they had during the opening minutes. Detroit was stopped during their scoring chances as the Bruins cut off the pass play between their opponents. They gained possession to try and get one through Howard but he knew what he had to do to keep clean with three minutes left in the period.

Detroit got their first power play of the game to finish off the period but dealt with Rask who was always in good position when facing shots. He managed to handle a couple before the PK unit took care of business keeping the game away from him to conclude the penalty and 20 minutes. It ended at status quo leaving the Bruins shotless for 18 minutes.

Detroit knew that with Boston in trouble with their offense that theirs had to pick up the pace in the second period. They started up a rush with Gustav Nyquist searching for another one since he got two on Dec. 5. The Bruins got things turned around for themselves and got in deeper in the Red Wings zone with a second power. For 1:48, the went all out to fire pucks at Howard who saw plenty of action while the defense struggled to clear the puck out. They struggled to keep up with Boston who pushed their way to scoring on Detroit but failed.

A second try for the Red Wings came and made things happen 12 seconds in with a hard drive from Tomas Tatar who got his ninth with a good screen on Rask by Justin Abdelkader. It was Tatar’s fifth power play goal this season and the lead that Detroit hoped to keep with half the second period left. A third chance to open the gap on their Atlantic Division rivals where scoring chances were aplenty but getting a bigger lead was killed off by the Bruins PK.

They kept the pace high which Boston rallied back to match in the final minutes of the period where another surge challenged Howard. The Detroit netminder did work to block shots, getting lucky with a puck that landed on top of the net. The Bruins remained firm to even the game but the clock ended their scoring chances to leave them even with 14 shots each for the teams respectively.

The Bruins proved their strength that continued to grow to start the third period. They showed concentration on their shots to Howard who dealt with three to begin things. On a faceoff opportunity in the Detroit zone, Tim Schaller got possession before making a pass to Noel Acciari. The 26-year-old centerman fired a shot that beat Howard to gain his second of the year. With Boston in the game, they had the momentum to get ahead with plenty of time left in regulation.  

They showed a surge midway in the period where they had Detroit in serious trouble in their own zone. It got worse as they were awarded a power play where the Bruins continued to pressure Detroit to near submission. A huge opportunity came to Detroit on a loose puck while they were shorthanded. Dylan Larkin sped to it quickly going in well ahead of the Boston defense where he backhand shot on Rask went into the net or his fifth and a big boost of energy for the Red Wings leading 2-1.

Six minutes remained in the game with Detroit fighting Boston for the puck at every chance. They had the edge on the Red Wings but were still down a goal when they found themselves with just three minutes left to try and tie it. Rask came off the ice for a sixth attacker while Detroit made the key blocked shots to kill time. It became too much for them as the Bruins tied the game with a three man play that ended with Marchand passing to David Pastrnak who had an open window on the night to even the game. It was Pastrnak’s 15^th and the one that would take them to overtime for another chance at stealing the game away from the Red Wings.

Detroit hasn’t won a game in overtime in their last five tries in a situation they hoped to get both points instead of one. It didn’t take long for the game to be determined as the first play began with Marchand and ended with him threading the needle on Howard to score his 12^th that took 35 seconds to notch that ended the game. While they showed serious competition to overtake Detroit, their opponents showed they had a lot of positive moments to be proud of while getting a point out of the loss.

Howard was impressing stopping 29 on the night that saw him do a lot of work for his team. While it wasn’t the result he or the Red Wings wanted, it was the second consecutive game where they managed to get a point out of it all. They’ll try it again on Friday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs.