The Boston Bruins could not have embarked on the final week of the regular in much worse fashion.
Two goals in eight seconds from the Red Wings in the opening minutes of the third period stunned the B’s, who dropped their second game in as many days, falling 6-3 to Detroit on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The Bruins remain six points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second place in the Atlantic Division with three games remaining. Toronto holds a game in hand.
Jake DeBrusk, Brad Marchand and David Backes got markers for the Bruins. Anthony Mantha netted a hat trick for the Red Wings, while Taro Hirose netted the game-winner in the third. Filip Hronek and Dylan Larkin also scored for Detroit.
Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves for Boston, while Jimmy Howard stopped 31 pucks for Detroit.
The Bruins fell to 47-23-9 with the win, while the Red Wings moved to 31-38-10 with the win.
Here’s how it all went down:
TERRIBLE START
In a physical, scrappy opening 20, it was the Bruins who took a beating after two Detroit goals in the first period.
After a sloppy opening few minutes, Detroit would break through to light the lamp at 10:26.
Larkin gained possession in the corner then spun and made a behind-the-back cross-ice pass to Mantha for a one-timed goal.
The Bruins had two opportunities on the power play late in the period, but were unable to capitalize on either, the second of which came to an early end when Matt Grzelcyk was whistled for a slash at 19:02.
That led to Mantha’s second goal.
Tyler Bertuzzi dug a puck out of the corner and fed it out to Niklas Kronwall, who dished a slot pass to Mantha for another one-timer that caught the post and found twine for a power play marker with one second remaining in the period.
Detroit led in shots 9-8.
B’s ROAR BACK
Boston came on in a fury in the second, netting three unanswered goals.
The Bruins got a much-needed quick response to start the middle frame with DeBrusk cutting the deficit in half at 2:01.
In a beautiful breakout, DeBrusk took a pass from Charlie McAvoy and carried momentum through the neutral zone, then hit David Krejci as they entered the zone. Krejci dished the puck back in a perfectly executed give-and-go that led to the goal.
Mantha nearly made it a hat trick with a breakaway, but Halak kept the five hole closed to make the save. However, McAvoy took a delay of game penalty on the play.
But it was down a man when the B’s would draw even.
Brandon Carlo tactfully lofted a long pass to Marchand to spark a 2-on-1 with Patrice Bergeron. Marchand passed to Bergeron, who juked the defender and dished back to Marchand for the short-handed goal at 9:50 to make it 2-2.
Backes gave the B’s their first lead of the night, tipping in a Kevan Miller point shot at 19:00.
Shots were square at 17 through two.
STUNNING LOSS
After a seemingly error-free second period, the Bruins turned into a puddle in the third, allowing three unanswered goals.
The Bruins could not have had a worse start to the third period, allowing two goals eight seconds apart within the first two minutes of the period to find themselves in a 4-3 hole.
Mantha tied things up by netting a hat trick goal on the power play after DeBrusk was whistled for interference.
Just eight ticks later, Hirose gave the Red Wings the lead.
It only would get worse from there with Hronek cushioning Detroit’s lead with a goal at 12:03 off an assist from Mantha.
The Bruins pulled Halak with four minutes to go, but were unable to make a dent in the deficit. Larkin would pot an empty-netter to cap it, with Mantha picking up his fifth point.
