After witnessing first-hand my second Bruins win in as many days (a 4-1 whitewashing of the defending Stanley Cup Champions from Detroit), I'd love to take credit for the wins (11-1-1 in November) but I had nothing to do with it.
This Bruins team (16-4-4) doesn't need any help, they're stacked as they proved last night at the Garden.
Detroit (15-4-4) dominated possession in the first 10 minutes of the game, putting constant pressure on Manny Fernandez (29 saves) but the Boston backup stood tall. He got the surprise start (his second in a row) after Tim Thomas was scratched with an illness.
Blake Wheeler (8th of the season) made Boston's first chance count as he took a pass from Michael Ryder (and David Krejci) and one-timed a snap-shot past Red Wings goalie Ty Conklin, 12 minutes into the first.
4:11 later, Phil Kessel doubled the Bruins' lead as he put a screened shot past Conklin. It was Kessel's 13th of the season, from Shane Hnidy and Zdeno Chara.
Patrice Bergeron dug a puck out of the corner in the second period and whipped a pass to Chuck Kobasew in the slot. Kobasew (5th of the season) put it past Conklin, who was promptly pulled in favor of Chris Osgood.
The Red Wings finally made some noise as Jiri Hudler (9th of the season) scored a power-play goal with 3:35: left in the second. Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson assisted on the lucky goal that Hudler bounced off Marc Savard's skate after a scramble in front of Fernandez.
The third period wasn't exactly thrilling (especially for the Red Wings fans in attendance) but the Bruins had one more highlight as Krejci (7th goal of the season) scored from Michael Ryder and Dennis Wideman. Krejci used his quick hands to fish out a loose puck in front of the Detroit goal.
Detroit outshot Boston, 30-19 and the Bruins were 0-for-1 on their only power-play opportunity.
The Bruins get a few days off before hitting the road for a game at Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
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