Bruins fall to Wings
They were ready to throw down, but the Bruins still couldn’t find their offense. In a physical affair that involved a near-goalie fight, the Bruins struggled on the power play, netting just one of five chances, and fell to the Red Wings 4-2 in their third meeting of the season. The Bruins struck first and had ample chances on the man advantage throughout the game, and got plenty of shots, but were turned aside and the Red Wings speed on their penalty kill proved too much. A second period brawl could have served as a chance to spark the B’s, but the Red Wings ended up with a power play and scored the then-go ahead goal, forcing the Bruins to play catch-up, and they haven’t won a game when trailing after the second period all season. Tuukka Rask finished with 23 saves, but it wasn’t the most action he’d see. He wanted to drop the gloves with Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, but instead, the Bruins ended up shorthanded. “I’m more concerned about how it played out, we ended up shorthanded,” said Cassidy. “I didn’t think that was appropriate. I thought there was a lot of stuff going on tonight. They called Colby Cave for just going over to talk to Bertuzzi, he barely touched him, I thought that was a weak call.” David Backes picked up his second goal of the season in odd fashion to open the scoring. With time running out on the first period, he whipped the puck on net from the outside of the circle. It deflected off Detroit’s Dennis Cholowski and popped in the net for a 1-0 Bruins lead with three seconds left in the first. Colby Cave earned the secondary assist for his first career NHL point. Michael Rasmussen got the Red Wings on the board with 14:15 to go in the second, deflecting a shot from Mike Green past Rask to knot the score at one. Tyler Bertuzzi slapped a puck in from the bottom of the slot with 9:36 to go in the frame, but Thomas Vanek pushed into Rask, who collapsed backwards in the crease. Cassidy challenged the goal, and it was rescinded. “I didn’t feel like he jumped on me,” said Rask. “I don’t know if it was he was trying to fight to save the puck, it looked like I embellished that contact. He was there, but I didn’t see him… I thought I was just trying to battle for the puck.” David Krejci, just two nights after loosing teeth from a big hit, took another big open ice check from Luke Witkowski late in the second period. Moments later, Joakim Nordstrom initiated for the second fight of his NHL career. The fisticuffs were just getting started, as it would turn out. Brad Marchand slammed Bertuzzi into the endboards late in the frame, and Bertuzzi was ready to drop the gloves. Cave tried to engage, but Bertuzzi didn’t follow throw. Marchand slashed Howard skating by, and the on-ice brawl in front of the benches ensued. Rask stormed out of the net and was ready to take on Howard, but the officials intervened. He was penalized for leaving the crease. In the end, just Marchand was sent off for a Red Wings power play, and Dylan Larkin netted the man advantage goal with 2:24 left for a 2-1 lead. On the Bruins fifth power play of the night, Ryan Donato took a pass from David Pastrnak and wristed it through for his second goal of the season -- and second tally on the man advantage -- to make it a 2-2 game with 14:29 to go. Frans Nielsen tipped in a shot from the point to give Detroit the 3-2 lead with 8:07 left in the third for the eventual game-winner. Without Patrice Bergeron centering the top line, it was the Bruins ninth straight game with three goals or less. “Tonight, I think it’s a bad road to go down with the what ifs and the woe is me,” said Cassidy. “We’re winning games with this lineup. Tonight we didn’t, but we’ll bounce back.”