BOSTON — The Bruins were 0-2-0 against the Red Wings coming into Saturday’s game at TD Garden. And after the first period, it looked as if Detroit may sweep Boston in the regular season.
But a three-goal second followed by David Pastrnak’s 42nd goal of the season helped lift Boston to a 4-1 victory.
The Red Wings are the worst team in the NHL. So it probably wasn’t crazy to think the Bruins, one of the hottest teams in the league, would defeat them during their matchups. That obviously wasn’t the case this season until Saturday afternoon. And the players are happy to have finally handed Detroit a loss this year.
“Some of those things are hard to figure out why,” Charlie McAvoy said. “You gotta credit them too. Everyone in this league are world-class players. … It’s never easy to win in this league. So it was nice to finally beat those guys.”
Brad Marchand, though, never was worried about the outcome.
“Even when they scored that goal I don’t think we were really worried about it,” he said. “We had it tonight. You could tell. We came out so hard and we really controlled the play … and I mean they beat us last weekend … we still should have won that game last week. We were confident in the way we play. We’re too good of a team.”
Rask noted it’s good to win against teams you’ve continually lost to. And the Bruins certainly would know, considering they had a lot of trouble with the Washington Capitals.
“I guess it’s if you’re losing to a certain team, like we did against Washington for about six years. You’re going to cut it off at some point. They’re in our division, Detroit, so it hasn’t been too many years. But good thing we got one. Every game matters.”
Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Red Wings game:
— McAvoy scored the game-tying goal in the second period. The tally was just his second of the season.
Don't let Charlie get hot! pic.twitter.com/q8BIgMCKTB
— NESN (@NESN) February 15, 2020
“Little bit of puck luck, for sure,” he said the play. “I think when they were trying to get it out it looked like the forwards kind of had their backs to the play trying to make a good defensive play. So I tried to piggyback off them and kind of pick up the puck. … I was lucky enough to see it go in.”
Head coach Bruce Cassidy thinks the blueliner has been finding his groove of late.
“He’s really finding his game all around,” he said.
— David Krejci skated in his 900th career game. He’s just the seventh Bruins player to accomplish the feat.
— Marchand picked up the assist on David Pastrnak’s 42nd goal of the season. He now has 50 assists in 59 games.
.@Bmarch63's 50th assist of the season + @pastrnak96's league-leading 42nd goal of the season = one beauty of a highlight.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/604HwjD3bW
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 15, 2020
Marchand also had a helper on Patrice Bergeron’s shorthanded goal with an absolute filthy dangle that gave the B’s their first and final lead of the game.
“It’s always fun when guys make plays,” he said. “… He was by himself. … Once I was able to close the gap I really just tried to read which way he was going because he didn’t have much of an option … one I kind of made contact, I looked up, Bergy was all by himself. It worked out well he made a phenomenal play … to finish it off.”
Dangling for the shorty.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/5Xsz8feZIX
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 15, 2020
— Rask made 25 saves in the win, extending his home record to 14-0-6. According to the Bruins, that ties Tiny Thompson, who went 20-0-0 in 1929-30, for the longest point streak at home by a goalie.
