Bruins run over Red Wings in 3-1 win

The Boston Bruins celebrate a third period goal against the Detroit Red Wings at the TD Garden on December 23, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Red Wings suffered another loss at TD Garden Saturday afternoon. In what they hoped would be a good way to celebrate the holiday ended in defeat as the Boston Bruins held them to a 3-1 loss. Patrice Bergeron had two goals while goaltender Tuukka Rask made 30 saves for his fifth consecutive win and second against Detroit.

Before the holidays got underway, the two Atlantic Division and Original Six rivals had unfinished business in their early start to the day. Despite the close loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, the Red Wings progress on offense has them on a much better track to conclude 2017. They would try to get back at the Bruins who won against them in Detroit ten days ago. Boston attempted to go for their fourth win in a row and are 6-1-1 in their past eight games and 12-3-1 during a 15-game stretch. Though they are well ahead of the Red Wings in the standings, the two points in division play would be a nice present to achieve.

The first period saw the Bruins strike first with a shot on net at Jimmy Howard in net for the Red Wings making the stop with his defense in tandem. They couldn’t hold them from surging which led them to being pressured in their end for quite some time. Detroit had just two shots through a large part of the period but after 13 minutes, the problems got bigger. The Red Wings made two penalties which gave the Bruins a huge 5 on 3 chance with the puck. It didn’t take them long to get the best out of their power play unit which ended with Brad Marchand firing a wrister into an open part of the net.

While it looked as if it was the beginning of worse things to come, the Detroit shorthanded tricks lit up just in time. A turnover right near center ice allowed them to run off with the puck with Darren Helm using his speed to take off. He got Frans Nielsen to take possession and score on Rask scoring his ninth. It was the seventh shorthanded goal for Detroit and one they were happy to get with five minutes left in the period.

It did help the Red Wings get into motion but they only got three more on Rask before time ran out. Boston had clearly dictated the first with an 11-6 run on shots on goal as well as their physical strength delivering big hits to their divisional rivals.

The second was an uneventful moment with both teams struggling to score on one another from the start. The Red Wings knew that a push on getting pucks to the net had to happen in order to stay at a pace to compete against Boston. While they didn’t get one on Rask to change the score in their favor, progress was a major key to fighting hard in the third. They outshot the Bruins 13-9 in the second period with one left to determine who was going to be feeling merry.

Detroit continued a power play from the end of the second but were unable to convert a goal from the remaining time. The penalty kill from Boston was a good accomplishment to begin in the third. The Bruins showed strength in their allowance of the Red Wings time with the puck. Through the next few minutes, they battled them for possession and got lucky on a broken play in the Detroit zone. Boston got ahead of them just enough for Marchand to find Patrice Bergeron ready for a one timer that he let zip by Howard for his ninth and the first lead change of the game.

Despite being outshot, the Bruins did plenty of work to kill the play in front of Rask and clear the threat of scoring chances from the Red Wings. Time was becoming scarce for them as Detroit struggled to come up with a plan to tie the game. With 1:25 left, Detroit showed desperate moments as coach Jeff Blashill pulled Howard with 70 seconds on the clock. They nearly had it tied with Tomas Tatar getting a slap on the puck that travelled slowly to him nearly watching it go through the five hole of Rask. The Red Wings took a timeout with 28 seconds in regulation but nothing worked out as they lost control with Bergeron scoring even after falling to put one into the empty net that brought a close to the day for Detroit.

Rask finished with a .968 save percentage while Howard just added another loss to his record. Both teams would take a couple days off before the Bruins finish their homestand against Ottawa Wednesday and the Red Wings visiting the Devils.