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 Center David Krejci and right winger Reilly Smith scored in a
shootout to give the Bruins a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on
Wednesday night at Joe Louis Arena, snapping Boston's three-game
losing streak.
"It's huge," Smith said about breaking the skid. "It's tough. You
try not to think about it, but it's always in the back of your
mind."
Krejci and Smith also scored for Boston (2-3-0) in regulation, while
goaltender Tuukka Rask made 18 saves in regulation and the overtime
period.
"A real tough win, but a win we deserved," Bruins coach Claude
Julien said. "Probably the best game we've played to this point."
Wingers Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist scored for Detroit, while
goalie Jimmy Howard stopped 37 of 39 shots in regulation and
overtime.
"He was phenomenal," Nyquist said about Howard. "He was the one that
kept us in the game and saved a point for us there. And all the way
throughout the game, he was our best player, I thought."
Nyquist's power-play goal 2:56 into the third period tied the game
at 2. Nyquist beat Rask with a wrist shot from the top of the right
circle for his third goal in three games this season.
"In a game like this, it's a tough loss," Nyquist said. "Obviously,
it's nice to score goals, I guess, but at the same time, we want to
win games. That's most important. We didn't do that tonight, so it
wasn't good enough."
His power-play goal came with Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid in the
penalty box for interference, a call that the Bruins argued.
"The first three games when they scored, we were getting down and
deflated," Boston left winger Milan Lucic said. "Here today, we
didn't let anything bother us. It didn't matter that they tied it up
on a bad call. We just went out there and gave ourselves the best
chance to win."
Smith gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead with 6:29 left in the second period
when he put in a rebound from the front of the net. It was Smith's
second goal.
"Funny," Smith said. "That's exactly what we were doing in practice
the last couple of days: getting a dirty goal."
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period despite Boston
outshooting Detroit 14-4.
"We came out ready and really skated hard and made some sweet
passes," Rask said.
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Krejci opened the scoring 5:12 into the game when he raced around
Red Wings defenseman Jakub Kindl for a breakaway and beat Howard
with a forehand shot after a couple of moves. It was Krejci's first
goal of the season.
Tatar tied the game 3:28 later when he picked up a loose puck at the
bottom of the right circle and snapped a shot past Rask under the
crossbar for his first goal of the season.
Boston travels to play the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener
at Bell Centre on Thursday.
"It was good to get that win," Lucic said. "We just have to keep it
going."
NOTES: Boston assistant coach Doug Houda, who played with the Red
Wings during his NHL career, was hit in the head by an errant puck
6:39 into the second period. He was cut and was bleeding. He got
stitched up and returned behind the bench with a little less than 10
minutes left in the middle period. ... Boston LW Simon Gagne played
his first game with the team after signing a one-year contract for
$600,000 on Tuesday. He went to training camp on a tryout with the
team after not playing last season. It was the 800th career game for
the 34-year-old, who is in his 14th season. ... Boston RW Reilly
Smith and Detroit D Brendan Smith are brothers. ... Bruins D Torey
Krug is from the Detroit suburb of Livonia and played at Michigan
State. ... RW Gustav Nyquist, with a goal in each of the Red Wings'
first two games, moved up to the first line with C Henrik Zetterberg
and RW Johan Franzen. Nyquist replaced Justin Abdelkader, who went
to left wing on the third line with C Darren Helm and RW Andrej
Nestrasil.
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