Brad Marchand returned just in time to spoil the Detroit Red Wings’ attempts to hold their own against one of the top teams in the NHL.
Beating a forecasted Thanksgiving return following double hip surgery, Marchand had two goals and an assist for the Boston Bruins on Thursday at TD Garden. The Wings (3-2-2) skated well and created good scoring chances until the third period, when the Bruins (7-1-0) scored scored three goals in less than two minutes to pull out a 5-1 victory.
Adam Erne scored his second goal of the season and Ville Husso made 26 saves as the Wings played with a patched lineup. Matt Luff was called up from the minors to fill in for Oskar Sundqvist, whose upper-body injury comes the week after the Wings lost forwards Tyler Bertuzzi (upper body) and Jakub Vrana (players assistance program).
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A fast-paced first period drew a number of good saves from Husso and counterpart Jeremy Swayman. In the first few minutes, Husso denied Jake DeBrusk, Trent Frederic and David Krejci. The Wings killed off a penalty to Dominik Kubalik, holding the Bruins without a shot on net for the two-minute stretch. A good opening performance was blemished when the Wings couldn’t get the puck out, and the Bruins took advantage during a line change with Charlie Coyle coming off the bench and scoring at 13:42.
The Wings didn’t get much going during a power play early in the second period. Their penalty kill came through again shortly afterwards, with Kubalik and Pius Suter applying pressure to eat up valuable seconds and generate a scoring chance. Michael Rasmussen was called for a second straight penalty midway through the second period, and Marchand was wide open in the left circle to fire a shot from the dots to make it 2-0 a minute into Boston’s third power play.
The Wings finally were rewarded for their hard work with a minute to go in the second period. Filip Hronek was able to keep the puck in at the blue line, and Erne caught the puck, spun around, and fired a shot through traffic that pulled them within a goal. That was Hronek’s fifth assist in seven games.
Their rallying attempts were stifled when Rasmussen went to the box for a third straight time, and Marchand was at the net to make it 3-1 at 2:55 of the third period. Former Wings forward Tomas Nosek drove the net to set up a goal by Craig Smith 35 seconds later, and David Pastrnak improved the Bruins to 3-for-5 on power plays with a goal at 4:34.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
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Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings’ efforts undone by Boston Bruins in 5-1 loss