Two days after blowing a 2-0 lead to the Edmonton Oilers in what turned out to be a 3-2 loss, the Boston Bruins turned the tables on the Detroit Red Wings Saturday (March 11) at the TD Garden. After spotting the visitors a 2-0 lead through the first period, the Bruins responded with a dominant second period, then found a way to score the game-winner late in the third period for a 3-2 win that was their 50th of the season in just 64 games, becoming the fastest team to 50 wins in a season. Later Saturday night, Boston became the first team to clinch a 2023 playoff berth when the New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 5-1.
It certainly wasn’t always pretty for the Bruins as the Red Wings came ready to play and Boston weathered the storm in the opening 20 minutes to hang around enough before they got back to their style over the final 40 minutes. Here are three takeaways as Boston improved to 50-9-5 overall in 2022-23 and 27-3-3 on home ice.
Another Bad Start for the Bruins
Following the loss to the Oilers on Thursday night (March 9), coach Jim Montgomery said that he thought that Edmonton ”outplayed us, outworked us, and out-coached us.” After seeing that comment, you would have thought that the Bruins would have a strong start against the Red Wings, but it didn’t happen.
Related: Bruins Should Prioritize Health & Rest Over Records
Latest News & Highlights
In fact, they found themselves down 2-0 just 4:26 into the game. Boston got the first power play just 1:10 into the game, but a turnover at the offensive blueline led to a 2-on-1 Red Wings break and Andrew Copp beat Linus Ullmark for an early lead. Just over three minutes later, Alex Chiasson scored on the power play when he redirected a David Perron pass past Ullmark. Detroit continued to carry the play and outshot the Bruins 13-5 through the first 10 minutes, but Ullmark kept his team in the game. Toward the end of the period, the Black and Gold played better and created more chances, but slow starts as of late have been a thorn in Boston’s side.
Bruins Have Dominant Second Period & Catch Break
Whatever Montgomery’s message was between the first and second period was, it certainly was heard. The Bruins held a 36-5 advantage in shot attempts, and outshot Detroit 18-2. Magnus Hellberg was very good at stopping everything thrown at him, but he finally was beaten by Hampus Lindholm when his wrist shot from the point hit the post and found its way into the net. Then Boston caught a very…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…