These Aren't Your Father's Detroit Red Wings, This Edition is a Complete Gong Show of a Team

Make no mistake, the Red Wings' NHL record streak of 25 straight seasons of reaching the playoffs is remarkable. However, with that vaunted run finally coming to a crashing halt this spring, it's too bad that Detroit (25-29-11) has taken literally any intrigue that was left out of their last month of the regular season. On the second night of a back-to-back on the road, the Wings barely showed up this evening at TD Garden and that's being generous as the Bruins (35-26-6) destroyed them 6-1. Truthfully, it didn't feel that close as Boston could have won by 10 goals or more given the lop-sided nature of the tilt.

After losing 4-2 in Ottawa (37-22-6) on Monday, Boston needed a big bounce back victory and they got it as they pumped in four goals in the first period alone. Detroit backup goaltender Jared Coreau had only appeared in one of the last 13 contests and he was left to make just a cameo appearance on Rivalry Night (thanks NBC Sports) as he allowed three goals on eight total shots on goal. The Bruins exploded for three goals in a span of 2:25 in the first. David Krejci scored on a breakaway at 11:07 after Drew Stafford sprung him behind the Detroit defense. Zdeno Chara had the other assist on Krejci's 17th goal of the season.

Detroit continued to crumble as David Pastrnak flipped the puck ahead to Brad Marchand to beat Coreau for a 2-0 lead at 12:08. Chara once again had the second helper on Marchand's team-leading 31st goal of the season. The wheels fell off some more for the Wings as Stafford corralled a loose puck and roofed it by Coreau at 13:32 for his first goal as a Bruin (remember that he had one taken away in his debut on Saturday vs. New Jersey). Petr Mrazek had played in eight straight games for Detroit so I'm sure he was less than thrilled to have to come on in relief of Coreau, in the first period no less.

Boston had scored three 4-on-4 goals all season before they added two more in this laugher. Krejci scored his second goal of the game with 14.9 seconds left in the first, another unassisted goal as the B's took advantage of a loose puck in a dangerous area that bounced right to the Czech. Marchand bagged his second goal (8th multi-goal game of the season) at 16:55 of the second on a breakaway of his own, assisted by Colin Miller. The Red Wings showed they belonged in an NHL game for about the time it took them to score their lone goal of this blowout. Defenseman Niklas Kronwall showed some semblance of pride with his first goal of the season, assisted by Mike Green and Dylan Larkin at 17:35.

The good times continued in the third period for the black and gold as Pastrnak turned around in the shot to uncoil a missile of a low shot. His 27th goal of the season was assisted by Krejci (his 1st 3-point game of the season) and the best part (besides the awesome shot) was that his stick broke so in his goal celebration he tossed the stick to a fan in the crowd. When's the last time that you ever saw that in an NHL game? I'll wait. The Red Wings looked the part of the worst team in the Eastern Conference with the third fewest points in the league (in front of only Arizona and Colorado). Boston finished the four-game season series with Detroit at 3-0-1 and going back a few years, they are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games against their Original Six rival.

If only because you couldn't find a team put up less of a fight, I'm confident that the Flyers (31-26-8) will provide more resistance on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) when they come to the Garden. Still, the years go by but in recent memory Boston has completely owned Philadelphia who is currently three points behind the Islanders (31-23-11) for the second Wild Card in the East (and a date with top-seeded Washington). The Flyers are in Toronto (29-22-14) on Thursday so it would actually behoove Bruins fans to cheer for a Philly win in regulation vs. the Leafs (who are 4 points behind the Bruins with 2 games in hand).

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Pastrnak Saves the Day (and Maybe Claude Julien's Job) in 4-3 OT Win for B's vs. Wings

When you lose four straight games and see your season quickly going down in flames, there really isn't that much left to say. The Bruins (24-21-6) rallied to tie it in the third period tonight at TD Garden vs. the Red Wings (20-19-9) and won 4-3 in overtime on David Pastrnak's sublime one-timer from David Krejci and Brandon Carlo. Pasta's 20th goal of the season was also his first in 18 games but right now, who's counting? It's only one game and two points but you can easily conclude that was the most vital win of 2016-17 thus far for the B's. After their putrid 6-5 shootout loss in Detroit last Wednesday (where they blew not 1 but 2 three-goal leads), they owed the Red Wings this loss.

This being the Bruins that we're talking about, it obviously didn't come easily. Rather, they took a very hard route to end up victorious in front of a crowd far smaller than a sellout. They had previously been 1-16-3 this season when trailing after two periods while Detroit was 10-3-2 when leading after two. It was the final game of Boston's inaugural mothers' trip and Brad Marchand's mother in particular had plenty to cheer about as her son tied it at three in the third period with his second goal of the game. Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug assisted on Marchand's 19th goal of the season (which temporarily tied him with Pasta for the team-lead) at 8:20 of the third.

In a bizarre but totally true stat (take that alternative facts) Detroit has the NHL's best record in shootouts (6-0!) so the B's were smart to not let it reach that point (they are 2-2 in that goofy way to decide regular season games). Kevan Miller had missed the past four games with one of his endless injuries but he returned tonight and gave us all a taste of the full Kevan Miller Experience. He sniped a shot past Jared Coreau (45 saves) for his first goal of the season (and 1st in 42 games!) at 3:39 of the first period. Tim Schaller and Dominic Moore had the assists while Kevin Hayes (who had been a healthy scratch for the past 7 games) set a good screen in front of Coreau.

The Red Wings didn't record a single shot on goal for nearly the first 11 minutes but they made the first one count. Andreas Athanasiou burned Brandon Carlo and took an outlet pass from Mike Green that he finished on a breakaway with a forehand shot by Rask (23 saves) at 10:59. Niklas Kronwall had the other assist on Athanasiou's 10th goal of the season. Detroit is one of the lowest scoring teams in the league so it certainly didn't help that their top two scorers (Dylan Larkin and Thomas Vanek) were out for this evening's matchup. Marchand made it 2-1 late in the frame by putting in a rebound on the power play at 17:34. Ryan Spooner and Pastrnak had the assists as Boston's power play has connected for 10 goals in its last 11 tilts.

Green tied it at two at 6:25 of the second period as his slap-pass (intended to be tipped by a teammate) went off of Kevan Miller's skate into Boston's net. The ageless Henrik Zetterberg and Maine alum Gustav Nyquist had the helpers on Green's ninth goal of the season. Detroit is a long-shot to reach the playoffs for the 26th season in a row (it's really been that long) but their first three meetings with the Bruins this season have all been tight (Boston won 1-0 in Detroit on Oct. 29). Rask gave up a Malcolm Subban type weak one to Tomas Tatar at 10:51 of the second period that gave the Red Wings their first lead. Zetterberg picked up another assist on Tatar's 11th goal of the season.

It is a credit to Rask though (who left Sunday's blowout loss in Pittsburgh with a migraine headache) that he didn't fold after that. Instead, he never allowed another goal and made many quality saves later in the second, third and even two in the extra session. Boston closes the unofficial first half of its campaign (yes I realize they are well past the halfway point) on Thursday (7, NESN) as they host those high-flying Penguins (30-12-5) who fell 3-0 at home tonight to the Blues (24-19-5). The B's usually play entertaining and close games with Pittsburgh (excluding Sunday's debacle of course) so hopefully that is the case in two nights as they try to get back to .500 at the Garden (11-12-0) this season.

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