BOSTON – The Bruins wanted to go into the Christmas break on a high note and they certainly did that with a feel-good, stocking stuffer of a "W" against the Red Wings.
Patrice Bergeron scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner on a smoked one-timer midway through the third period, and the Bruins took care of business with a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon that gives them 13 wins in their past 17 games and four in a row.
MORE BRUINS:
The Bruins got on the board first in the opening period after slashing and too many men on the ice calls gave them a 5-on-3 power play. David Backes proceeded to send a pass from below the goal line to Brad Marchand at the bottom of the circle waiting to rip it past Jimmy Howard for his 15th goal of the season.
Unfortunately, the Bruins had a letdown right after that and gave up a short-handed goal that tied up the game one minute later. Danton Heinen coughed up the puck in the neutral zone and Frans Nielsen was able to sneak a puck through the five-hole of Tuukka Rask for the short-handed strike.
That’s the way the game stayed until the third when the Bruins dynamic top line got to work. Marchand entered the zone looking to make a play, and he fed a perfect pass that Patrice Bergeron stepped into for the blistering one-timer.
Boston Bruins
After that, it was up to the Bruins defense and Rask to maintain the one-goal lead and up to the B’s to manage the puck a little better than they did for most of the day until the second half of the third period. Rask stopped 12 shots in the third period to keep the Wings at bay and Bergeron potted the empty-net goal for the final score.