Bruins Wrap: Boston Gives Up Big Lead In Tough Loss To Red Wings

The Boston Bruins should’ve taken two points from Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, but they left Joe Louis Arena only with one.

Boston squandered two three-goal leads in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Red Wings. The loss droped the Bruins to 23-19-6 with an NHL-high 48 games played. The Red Wings improved to 20-19-6.

Here’s how it all went down.

PERFECT START
The Bruins opened the scoring when Frank Vatrano, who was promoted to the top line before the game, jammed a loose puck into the net for his fourth goal of the season. Patrice Bergeron and Adam McQuaid picked up assists on the play.

Vatrano goal pic.twitter.com/h6fl8ZPnyY

— steph (@myregularface) January 19, 2017

GOOD FIRST-PERIOD SPECIAL TEAMS
The B’s doubled their lead when Brandon Carlo ripped a shot past Red Wings goalie Jared Coreau for a shorthanded goal.

Watch and enjoy this shorthanded forecheck from Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand #blessed https://t.co/zX4sAVAIpe

— Marina Maher (@marinakmaher) January 19, 2017

The Bruins now are tied for third in the league in shorthanded goals with five. Only the Calgary Flames (seven) and New York Rangers (six) have more.

Boston also cashed in on the power play when Vatrano sniped one past Coreau for his second goal of the first period.

Frank Vatrano rips one on the PP for his second of the game, 3-0 Bruins in Detroit pic.twitter.com/LiLvkQ1t7g

— Marina Maher (@marinakmaher) January 19, 2017

This goal forced Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill to pull Coreau and put Petr Mrazek in net.

RED WINGS GET ONE BACK
Young phenom Dylan Larkin got the home team on the board by beating B’s goalie Tuukka Rask for his 12th goal of the season.

Larkin beats Vatrano, then Rask pic.twitter.com/mngIPLCYyK

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 19, 2017

BERGERON DOMINATES FIRST PERIOD
Bergeron has earned the nickname “Perfect Patrice,” and he played up to it in the first 20 minutes. Here’s a snapshot of his first-period performance.

one goal
two assists
8 of 9 on faceoffs
plus-7 Corsi at 5-on-5

Bergeron’s exceptional forecheck also led to Carlo’s shorthanded goal that put Boston up 2-0. He pulled even with a Bruins legend in one offensive category, too.

Patrice Bergeron puts #Bruins up 4-1 vs #RedWings, ties Bobby Orr for the 7th most PP goals in franchise history with the 74th of his career

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) January 19, 2017

RED WINGS COMEBACK
As well as the Bruins played in the first period, they were the complete opposite most of the second frame. Detroit outscored Boston 3-1 in the period to close the gap to 5-4 through 40 minutes. Detroit also held an 8-4 edge in shots on goal and a 17-14 lead in shot attempts in the second frame.

Xaiver Ouellet, Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Tatar all scored for the Red Wings, while McQuaid tallied one for the Bruins after Detroit tied the score 4-4 at 14:36 of the period. McQuaid’s goal came just 21 seconds after the Red Wings’ fourth goal, and it helped to slow down the momentum the home team had built throughout the period.

LEAD SQUANDERED
It took almost 17 minutes for a goal to be scored in the third period. Gustav Nyquist found the back of the net for the Red Wings to tie it up 5-5 with 3:04 remaining in regulation. It was Nyquist’s third goal in the last four games.

Red Wings tie it up 5-5 late pic.twitter.com/WquHegPuLD

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 19, 2017

OVERTIME EXCITEMENT
Both teams had Grade A scoring chances in the overtime period, highlighted by Brad Marchand’s breakaway chance that he failed to capitalize on. Both goalies stood tall to send the game to a shootout.

SHOOTOUT WOES
The Bruins lost in 2-1 in the shootout after Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek scored on Rask. Marchand notched Boston’s only goal in the shootout.