BOSTON -- The Detroit Red Wings erased a key short-handed
situation early in the second period, then got their third winning
streak of at least seven games this season.
Pavel Datsyuk scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third
period, Chris Osgood made 22 saves and the Red Wings bottled up
Boston over the final 30 minutes in a 3-1 win over the Bruins on
Saturday night.
After Boston grabbed a 1-0 lead on Chuck Kobasew's team-leading
19th goal 7:52 into the game, the Bruins had an excellent chance to
take control early in the second.
Andreas Lilja was whistled for holding, and 13 seconds later,
Nicklas Lidstrom was sent off for hooking. The Red Wings held
Boston to one shot on goal from the point over the next 1:47.
"I think that definitely gave us a little bit of a lift and
some energy that pushed us through the second period," Osgood
said.
On the go-ahead goal, Zetterberg came charging down the middle
and fired a wrister that Tim Thomas stopped, but Datsyuk slipped
the rebound past the goalie from the bottom of the left circle to
make it 2-1.
Detroit held Boston to just a few shots on goal until Brian
Rafalski added an insurance score on the power-play with 5:58 to
play.
Henrik Zetterberg scored his team-leading 31st goal for Detroit.
The Red Wings, 2-0 winners at home against Colorado on Friday
night, won a season-high nine straight from Oct. 18-Nov. 9, and
also won seven in a row Nov. 27-Dec. 13.
"We had a game last night and I think that was in our legs from
the beginning," Zetterberg said. "The longer the game went, the
better we felt. We had more legs and had more energy to work in
their end."
Thomas made 29 saves for Boston, which lost for just the second
time in seven games.
"I thought for almost two-thirds of the game we played pretty
well against them," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "The turning
point in the game was that 5-on-3."
Rafalski beat Thomas with a slap shot from the point.
The Bruins scored first, when Kobasew completed a nice
give-and-go with Glen Metropolit 7:52 into the opening period.
Milan Lucic worked the puck out along the boards and fed a pass
ahead to Kobasew, who collected the return from Metropolit and
fired a wrist shot inside the left post from the right faceoff
circle.
Boston beat Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa on the road
Tuesday, but couldn't completed the sweep against the NHL's best
team.
"They're first in the league for a reason," Kobasew said.
"They play tough and they play smart."
Zetterberg fired a rising wrister over Thomas' right shoulder
after Datsyuk won a faceoff at 15:04.
Thomas had a pair of solid stops before the goal, making a pad
save on Zetterberg's shot from in close and a diving stop on Derek
Meech's backhander from the edge of the crease.
Game notes
Detroit got its NHL-leading 40th win, the 10th straight
season with 40 or more. The Red Wings have scored at least two
goals in 32 consecutive road games. ... Bruins LW Marco Sturm was
back in action after missing Tuesday's game in Ottawa with the flu.
... Before the game, members of the 10th Mountain Division from Ft.
Drum, NY received jerseys in the names of two missing/captured
soldiers -- Sgt. Alex Jimenez from Lawrence, Mass. and Pfc. Byron
Fouty of Detroit. ... Osgood entered with a league-best 1.88 goals
against average. ... Injured Bruins C Patrice Bergeron, sidelined
his 42nd straight game after suffering a concussion and broken nose
on Oct. 27, entered the arena level with a medical test result in
his arm and chatted briefly with Cam Neely.