Red Wings at Bruins

The improved Detroit Red Wings are here for an “original six” weekend matinee, after which the Boston Bruins will pay forward the favor to the New York Rangers. Think of it like an extended holiday weekend of old friends but more for the purpose of sharing hostilities rather than memories.

As an aside, the first Bruins game I ever went to on my own was a November (1971) matinee against the Detroit Red Wings, and Johnny McKenzie and Nick Libbett got into a nasty fight that left both combatants bloody.

This is the game blog.

THIRD PERIOD

Danton Heinen went to the net and was rewarded with the gap-closing goal at 4:12 of the third after a clever effort by Trent Frederic turned a Charlie Coyle faceoff win into an O-zone possession. Lohrei got the puck low.

Brandon Carlo went to the box on the next shift, and Dylan Larkin converted on the powerplay, restoring Detroit’s two-goal lead at only five seconds after the puck dropped to begin the man advantage and only 55 seconds after Heinen had cut the lead.

Carlo went back to the box for shoving down a Red Wing post-whistle.

The Bruins, having an uncharacteristic struggle on the PK (four minors, two goals against, one 11 seconds in and another 5 seconds in), won the draw and got the initial clear.

Gostisbehere drew a penalty on Marchand with 11:41 left in the game and 1;01 on Carlo’s minor, giving the Red Wings a 5-on-3 for a minute with a golden opportunity to put this one to bed.

If I’m Peter Laviolette, I’m not liking this because the Bruins will respond with better discipline and better penalty killing tomorrow in New York.

Bruins are going wide open with under six minutes in regulation and down by two.

Swayman to the bench for an extra attacker with almost five minutes left. Larkin hits the empty net with 1:45, and the fans head to the exits.

Detroit thoroughly outplayed the Bruins today. 5-2 and time trickles away.

Signing off from upstairs at TDG.

SECOND PERIOD

Jake DeBrusk got the Bruins on the board with a second-effort powerplay goal at 3:00 with defenseman Justin Holl on the penalty box. 2-1 Detroit

DeBrusk and Poitras came back with a strong shift aided by a helluva deke by Pastrnak, who faked outside with the puck and went inside (if this was a glassy-ice pond, that defenseman would be in Nova Scotia by now).

Geekie thought he was going back to the box for a double-minor this time (for high-sticking Shayne Gostisbehere), but the officials huddled and came back rescinding the original call.

Mason Lohrei was found guilty on the next shift of high-sticking Christian Fischer.

Compher, who scored the first goal of the game, passed up a great opportunity in the slot. He got the puck back on the powerplay, but Swayman stopped his shot.

Swayman then stopped DeBrincat from 10 feet, but shortly after the expiration of the penalty Robby Fabbri roofed a cross-ice pass to make it 3-1 Detroit with 6:36 remaining in the second period.

DeBrincat then hit the left post. Both teams have hit iron in this one, Detroit more than once.

Holl went to the box for hooking a determined Poitras with two minutes left in the period. An uneven powerplay in terms of Boston’s puck play, Charlie Coyle got the best look in the final seconds of the penalty and period, missing the right post.

Shots after two: 20-19 Detroit.

FIRST PERIOD

Morgan Geekie, freshly back in the lineup, took a penalty at 5:02, and the Red Wings won the draw and two passes later scored on the powerplay, J.T. Compher neatly tipping a point shot between Jeremy Swayman’s wickets for a 1-0 Detroit lead.

Savvy old veteran David Perron went to the box for holding. The Bruins had some early pressure, but Detroit calmed it down and got the kill.

The Beecher-Brown-Lauko line got it going midway through the period and cause Detroit some stress. Michael Rasmussen was pushing on Brown post-whistle.

Next shift, no momentum, as David Pastrnak – make that Pavel Zacha (Pasta went in first) goes to the box at 10:59 for high sticking, and Wings to the powerplay.

Bruins get the kill, but both teams get chances off the rush, Detroit’s after Matt Poitras set up Pastrnak for a one-timer that missed and caromed out to a stressed 2-on-1 that the Wings botched.

Poitras carried up the middle, got stripped by Alex DeBrincat who had it clean and beat Swayman at 15:01, making it 2-0. It was DeBrincat’s team-high 12th goal of the season.

Naturally, every mistake Poitras makes, especially with his ice time getting cut from October levels, goes under a microscope. That kind of gaff during his first nine games and he probably goes back to Guelph (OHL), but the fact is he had not done that kind of thing.

Now the veteran players are settling into the season and sizing up the league and opponents, so credit DeBrincat with a savvy confrontation of Poitras, who is noticeably trying to increase his own pace of play. That made him all that much more vulnerable to a pickoff play.

So, as Jim Montgomery indicated to the press after the Bruins lost to Anaheim at home, every 10-game segment of the season sees elevated play across the league, and the Bruins need to respond to that. They have, but the ebb and flow of Poitras’ rookie NHL season is intensified before our eyes.

As an aside, this is the right place for him, but forecheck, backcheck, reality check. Poitras has a lot of work ahead of him, and he’s a keeper. That said, his play at this point is a definite reminder that the proper trade-deadline stance for this team has yet to unfold.

Doubly distracted by Edmonton’s poor start, coaching change and continued struggles, one wonders what names Don Sweeney is hearing when he picks up his phone and it’s another GM asking about Swayman or Linus Ullmark.

Shots after one were 9-9.