BSJ Game Report: Bruins 5, Red Wings 1 - Secondary scoring flexes muscles again as B’s best Detroit

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-1 win over the Red Wings with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

SHORT SHIFT

At long last, the Bruins are officially back in the playoff picture — with Boston leapfrogging the Red Wings in the wild-card standings after beating Detroit, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena. 

For the second game in a row, secondary scoring broke through for the B’s — with Boston burying five 5v5 tallies from Patrice Bergeron, Erik Haula, Charlie McAvoy, Trent Frederic and Tomas Nosek. Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 of the 24 pucks that came his way in the win. 

Over the four-point weekend, the Bruins tallied nine total goals — all of which were at even-strength play.

Despite holding a 15-6 edge in shots on goal in the opening frame, the B’s entered the first intermission stuck in a 1-1 deadlock. 

Tyler Bertuzzi opened the scoring for the home club 11:28 into regulation, but Boston’s top line countered a little over three minutes later — with Bergeron finishing off a crisp passing sequence and beating Alex Nedeljkovic for his 11th goal of the season.  

A chippy second period largely saw Boston and Detroit trade plenty of punches across multiple scrums, with Haula also putting the B’s ahead for good at 7:37 — sniping a puck past Nedeljkovic for his second goal of the year. 

After a bit of a slow start, Swayman improved as the contest progressed — turning aside all 10 shots that came his way during Detroit’s sustained O-zone pushes in the middle frame. 

The dam finally burst in the third period for the Bruins when it came to their secondary-scoring output. A slick feed from Taylor Hall set up McAvoy’s tally at 5:59 in the period — while both Frederic and Nosek poured things on with their first and third goals of the season at 7:55 and 10:40, respectively.

Boston surpassing Detroit in the standings was all but inevitable — given that the B’s entered the afternoon just one point behind the Red Wings and with five games in hand.  

Still, regardless of the standings implications, this was another very satisfying victory for a Bruins team that finally seems to be piecing together a winning product all across the depth chart. 

FIVE UP

Marchand-Bergeron-Smith line: It sure seems like this new-look top line isn’t going to be split up any time soon. During the 63-37-12 line’s 6:58 of 5v5 ice time together on Sunday, Boston held a 9-1 edge in shots on goal and a 5-1 advantage in high-danger scoring chances. The rest of Boston’s lineup is finally picking them up, but the B’s big guns in Bergeron and Marchand are still taking care of business.

Penalty kill: While Boston’s man advantage left a lot to be desired, the B’s did clamp down on Detroit’s power plays — going a perfect 4-for-4 on the PK. In total, the Red Wings only landed four shots on goal over 7:20 of power-play ice time, with Boston landing two shots in against Nedeljkovic during that same stretch.

Erik Haula: It was good to see other guys on that top-six unit like Hall continue to string together some solid shifts, but Haula finally getting off the schneid and ripping a puck into twine has to do wonders for his confidence.

Jeremy Swayman: Despite a slow start in which he didn’t face a large volume of shots, Swayman shored things up as Sunday’s game progressed — especially in a second period in which Boston was primarily clinging to a one-goal lead. 

Fourth Line: After the DeBrusk-Coyle-Foligno line did plenty of heavy lifting in Saturday’s win over the Sabres, it was a checking unit of Frederic, Nosek and Oskar Steen that did some damage today. It was great to see both Frederic and Nosek light the lamp, but Steen deserves plenty of credit for adhering to a north-south game and attempting a bevy of shots near Grade-A ice.

 ONE DOWN

 Power play: If there was one underwhelming aspect of Boston’s play this weekend, it would have to be a usual strength in its power play — which went 0-for-7 in wins over Buffalo and Detroit. Granted, two of Boston’s power-play bids today were in garbage time, but a first-period opportunity just 1:13 into the contest was an ugly stretch, especially when it comes to careless entries. 

LOOSE PUCKS

B’s offense finally starting to turn a corner

If Saturday represented a step in the right direction when it came to Boston’s dormant secondary scoring finally awakening, Sunday was another major leap forward. 

Even if a few key cogs on Boston’s depth chart are still lagging a bit (David Pastrnak, in particular), it’s hard to not be very encouraged by Boston’s lineup all appearing to pull on the same rope for the first time in a long time.

And even though Boston’s new top line of Marchand-Bergeron-Smith has been very lethal, it’s not as though Boston’s offense has relied on its big guns during this scoring surge — with just one of Boston’s nine goals this weekend coming from one of the usual suspects in Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak.

And as we noted last night, Boston’s offensive breakthroughs are not solely due to Bruce Cassidy putting his lines in a blender. Rather, the B’s are FINALLY starting to fire off pucks from Grade-A ice — which, to the shock of just about no one — is the easiest way to generate more high-danger chances. 

We’ll see how Boston’s revitalized offense fares in the next week or so when the B’s battle foes like Tampa Bay once again — but right now, there’s a lot to like about how this team is looking in 2022.

Steen deserves more reps 

Oskar Steen getting a look in Boston’s starting lineup was more a byproduct of circumstance after Curtis Lazar was banged up in Saturday’s win. But even if Lazar is given the green light to return to the B’s lineup on Tuesday, Cassidy has a difficult decision to make. 

Because whenever Steen has earned a look up in the NHL ranks, it sure seems like he belongs — with the 23-year-old winger now up to three points in four games with the B’s this season. 

With Steen already up to 20 points in 16 games with Providence, he has little left to prove against AHL competition. Time to give him an extended look on that fourth line. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

What a slick feed from Hall here to set up McAvoy’s fifth goal of the season. 

PARTING THOUGHTS

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will return to TD Garden for a two-game homestand — starting with a matchup against the Devils on Tuesday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.