BOSTON — The Bruins won both games of their weekend back-to-back, finishing with a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.
Special teams played a major factor in the outcome. Boston scored two power-play goals and two shorthanded goals, while Detroit capitalized once on the power play.
The Bruins return to game action Tuesday night on the road against the Ottawa Senators, who are one of the teams chasing the Original Six club in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Here are three takeaways from Bruins-Red Wings:
1. Strong Special Teams Gives Bruins Lead At First Intermission
The Bruins opened the scoring with a sensational shorthanded goal from Brad Marchand. He now has the most shorthanded goals (seven) of any forward since the start of last season.
After Detroit tied the game with an even-strength goal from Gustav Nyquist, Boston regained the lead with a power-play tally by David Pastrnak.
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The Bruins entered Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 1-for-14 power-play slump, but they’ve now scored three goals with the man advantage in the last two games.
Boston also was 2-for-2 on the penalty kill in the first period. Detroit has the No. 1 ranked power play in the NHL.
2. Stephen Weiss Has a Game to Forget
Stephen Weiss was Detroit’s prized acquisition of free agency in 2013, but he’s been a colossal disappointment.
Sunday’s game was one of his worst of the season. He turned the puck over twice on the power play, and both mistakes led to shorthanded goals for the Bruins, one for Daniel Paille and another for Marchand.
Weiss finished with zero shots in just 8:18 of ice time.
3. Daniel Paille Scores Twice
Bruins fourth-line winger Dan Paille scored two goals Sunday for the first time since Dec. 14, 2011, a span of 266 games. His first goal came on a shorthanded breakaway, which began when he made a good defensive play to steal the puck from Weiss at the blue line.
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Paille also scored an even-strength goal at 18:39 of the second period, his fifth tally of the season. He has scored four goals in his last six games following a 36-game goalless drought.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
