BOSTON — At least one player from each Bruins line and nine players in total tallied a point or more in Monday’s 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden.
It was the type of balanced scoring that the Bruins used to rank third in goals scored last season. Boston has averaged four goals over the last four games, which is a good sign for a team that has ranked in the bottom third of 5-on-5 scoring and shooting percentage throughout the campaign.
“They won all the battles, all the races,” Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. “They competed way harder than us.”
Here are the “3 Stars” from Monday’s game.
No. 3 Star: Dougie Hamilton, Defenseman, Bruins
Hamilton played with a physical edge that we have not seen a lot this season. He was winning puck battles in the corners, dishing out hits and clearing traffic from the front of the net. The 21-year-old D-man did a nice job winning possession of the puck in the corner and sending a pass to Reilly Smith at the point to earn a primary assist on Boston’s first goal.
Hamilton also was on the ice for 22 shot attempts for, nine against for a team-best (among defensemen) 70.97 Corsi-for percentage. He registered six shots on goal, which tied Carl Soderberg for the team lead. These stats are even more impressive when you consider that Hamilton played the majority of his shifts against Detroit top-six forwards such as Pavel Datsyuk (12:14), Tomas Tatar (7:16) and Justin Abdelkader (7:24).
No. 2 Star: Reilly Smith, Right Wing, Bruins
Smith scored his ninth goal of the season and his first since Dec. 16 at 2:44 of the first period. He also tallied four shots on goal, and the Bruins controlled 53.33 percent of even-strength shot attempts when he was on the ice.
No. 1 Star: Carl Soderberg, Center, Bruins
Soderberg gave the Bruins a 3-1 lead with a first-period goal and earned a secondary assist on Gregory Campbell’s goal at 16:12 of the opening frame. The Swedish forward also picked up a primary assist on Chris Kelly’s empty-net tally late in the third period that sealed the victory. He also created a few other good scoring chances, including a 2-on-1 with Loui Eriksson in the first period.
It was Soderberg’s first three-point game of the season, and he’s now one point behind Patrice Bergeron for the team lead in scoring (nine goals, 17 assists in 37 games).
Soderberg finished with a team-high six shots (also a career high) in 16:21 of ice time (0:53 on the power play). He also was a plus-17 Corsi (26 shot attempts for, nine against) at even strength.
“Well, I think they’ve responded all year,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said of the Soderberg line. “You just have to look at their stats. The line has been scoring for us, and for the most part without (David Krejci) they were always our second line, so just lately they’ve kind of slid down, so I don’t see that they had to rise up to the challenge tonight. They’ve done it all year.”
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
