BOSTON — The Bruins took care of business in emphatic fashion Thursday night, breezing past the Detroit Red Wings in a battle of Atlantic Division playoff hopefuls.
Defenseman Torey Krug scored his first goal in more than four months and added two assists to lead the Bruins, who scored twice in the game’s first three minutes and never looked back en route to a 5-2 victory at TD Garden.
Boston’s win prevented Detroit from clinching the Atlantic’s third and final postseason berth. But with the Philadelphia Flyers earning a point Thursday in an overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Bruins again do not control their own destiny entering Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Ottawa Senators.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Lee Stempniak scored Boston’s fourth goal of the night just 20 seconds into the third period, and Loui Eriksson followed with a tally of his own 25 seconds later. The Eriksson goal chased Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard from the game and gave the Bruins a 5-1 lead they would not relinquish.
The Bruins were bolstered by a suffocating defense that limited the Red Wings to 15 shots on goal, including just two in the third period. Tuukka Rask stopped 13 to earn his 31st win of the season.
THE BRUINS SHUFFLE
Bruins coach Claude Julien threw a host of new wrinkles into his line combinations, the most notable of which involved penciling recently recalled veteran Max Talbot in at third-line center and shifting Ryan Spooner to left wing on the second line.
Julien also reunited Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Lee Stempniak on the top line and bumped winger Frank Vatrano down to the fourth, where he began the game alongside Landon Ferraro and fellow rookie Noel Acciari.
INSTANT PASTA
David Pastrnak gave the Bruins the strong start they so desperately needed, taking a long pass from John-Michael Liles and slipping the puck past Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard just 85 seconds after puck drop.
Detroit challenged the call, arguing that Pastrnak had entered the zone from an offside position. Officials saw no such infraction, however, and the goal stood. Defenseman Colin Miller picked up the secondary assist on the play for his first NHL point since Jan. 25.
The Bruins then added to their lead a mere 79 seconds later. Marchand, who before the game was presented with the 2016 NESN 7th Player Award, did the honors this time, firing a one-timer into the back of the net off a thread-the-needle feed from Krug.
The goal was Marchand’s 37th of the season, making him the first Bruins player to reach that mark since Glen Murray did so in 2002-03.
REMOVING THE MONKEY
A goal-less streak that must have felt like an eternity for Krug finally came to an end when the defenseman scored during a second-period power play to put Boston ahead 3-0.
Krug hadn’t lit the lamp since Dec. 5 and had gone without a goal in each of his previous 54 games entering Thursday.
UP NEXT
The Bruins wrap up their regular-season schedule Saturday afternoon at home against the Senators.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
