The Boston Bruins made history on Saturday with a hard-fought home victory against Detroit on Saturday afternoon. The Bruins will look for back-to-back victories over the Red Wings when they visit Detroit on Sunday.
The Bruins became the fastest team in NHL history to reach 50 wins with their 3-2 victory. Boston got to the half-century mark in 64 games. The previous record of 66 games was shared by the 1995-96 Red Wings and 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning.
Garnet Hathaway scored on a rebound at 13:54 of the third period as Boston rallied from a two-goal deficit.
“Fifty wins is great. And it’s kind of a testament to how hard this team has continued to work throughout the year,” Hathaway said. “But I think guys want 51, you know? Guys are excited to play this team tomorrow already.”
Detroit, which has lost seven of its last eight games, scored twice in the first five minutes on Andrew Copp’s shorthanded goal and Alex Chiasson’s power play tally.
The Bruins tied it on second-period goals by Hampus Lindholm and Patrice Bergeron.
Boston had the first 12 shots on goal in the period.
“[Detroit] pushed hard in the beginning of the game, and I thought in the second period, we played our best hockey,” Bruins forward A.J. Greer said. “Bruins hockey; it was just relentless and offensive driven, connected.”
Boston lost at home to Edmonton 3-2 on Thursday night. The Bruins avoided back-to-back home losses for the first time this season.
“We never want to lose two in a row. We showed that today,” goaltender Linus Ullmark said. “We came out a little slow. They came out hot as well. Give them credit, they really came here to play in that first period and we just weren’t ready for it. But we took a breather in between the first and second, and we told each other we’ve got to ramp it up a little bit. And then we absolutely dominated them in the second.”
The Red Wings lamented a two-goal swing in the second period. Dylan Larkin appeared to give his team a 3-1 lead but his goal was waved off because he was called for interference seconds earlier. Bergeron scored on the subsequent Bruins’ power play.
“That’s a tough swing there, you think we go up 3-1 and they call a penalty late, and not the ref that was close, it was called on the back side,” Larkin said. “They score on the penalty kill and it’s a tough swing. But we responded well and had a good third period. We just came up short. But it was a good effort, we battled a lot out there, and a lot was going against us.”
Detroit coach Derek Lalonde lamented four penalties called against his team in the first two periods.
“The second period burned us,” Lalonde said. “We had a real good first, and I liked our third. But the second, the penalties, our four penalties and it’s just too much on our group and gives their top guys too much momentum. It’s unfortunate because we had a real good opportunity today.”
–Field Level Media