The Boston Bruins wasted no time in getting down to business in their Game 3 visit to the Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday night, outshooting Detroit 11-to-4, and jumping out to a 2-0 edge behind goals from Dougie Hamilton and Jordan Caron, both the first of their playoff careers.

In what ended as a 3-0 final for the Black-and-Gold, it was the systematic shutdown of the Wings’ big guns -- namely Pavel Datsyuk, Gustav Nyquist, and Johan Franzen -- who were jammed whenever they took the puck to the middle -- that proved crucial for Boston.

Taking the lead in the series by a mild two games to one mark, Boston’s chance to go up three games to one isn’t going to come without a major punch back from the reeling Red Wings. Expected to see the return of both Todd Bertuzzi and captain Henrik Zetterberg tonight, Game 4 is seemingly being taken with the approach of a true must-win for the Wings. Understandably so.

Detroit doesn’t want to head back to Boston’s TD Garden, where the Bruins lost just ten times in 41 games this year (and are 1-1 in the series thus far), and if they’re going down on their ice, it’s simply going to have be by way of a better effort (read as: more resistance to Boston’s attack).

The veteran presence of a Bertuzzi and a Zetterberg, though hobbled, would provide just that.

Zetterberg hasn’t played since Feb. 12 (Sweden’s first game of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi), but (likely, pending doctor’s approval) takes to the ice tonight with 55 goals and 114 points in 123 career playoff games. Finishing the year with 16 goals and 48 points in 45 contests, the 33-year-old Zetterberg’s a welcomed sight for a Red Wings squad that’s scored just two goals in three games this series, and comes into action tallying six goals and 14 points in 12 career games against the Bruins.

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old Bertuzzi, who could be suiting up in playoff play for the final time in his polarizing career, was a healthy scratch in seven of the Wings’ last 12 regular season games and has not registered a point in his last 11 playoff contests (dating back to the 2012 playoffs).

As a Wing, Bertuzzi’s recorded seven goals and 24 points in 50 postseason contests (five seasons).

Stars returning from an injury with their team down in a series against the Bruins isn’t anything exactly new, really. It was in 2010 when Simon Gagne returned to Philadelphia’s lineup and helped the Flyers win four straight against the B’s, with Gagne scoring four goals (including the series winner in Game 7) and five points in just four games.

Obviously, a player of Zetterberg’s caliber returning to the lineup is cause for concern from a B’s point of view (especially when things have gone so well for them over the last two contests), even if ‘they’re not focusing on one player’ like Claude Julien said to the media earlier this afternoon. Now, it’s simply unrealistic to bank on a 39-year-old Bertuzzi or still less-than-100-percent Zetterberg to completely change the Wings’ fortunes, but for a Detroit power play that’s gone 0-for-9 against Tuukka Rask and Co., you’ll take any added bodies you can.

Still, though, if the 27-year-old Rask continues to play like he has through three games -- posting a 0.67 goals against average and .976 save percentage in his last 180 minutes of play -- all the Wings in the world won’t be able to save the hometown crowd from leaving with more disappointment.

For number enthusiasts: Rask’s currently working with a 106-minute shutout streak, too.

The biggest key for Boston in Game 4 has to be similar to that of Game 3. The importance of a strong start at the Joe is just invaluable, especially when you see how it impacted the Red Wings in their Game 3 loss. I mean, when the B's jumped out to that 2-0 edge, and even before that, Detroit looked like a dead team walking. They were paralyzed by Boston's aggressive forechecking game and ability to dictate the pace of play in all three zones.

If that continues, the B's will return to Boston for Game 5 with three wins in their pocket.

Bergeron named a Selke finalist

In perhaps the least surprising award news, B’s center Patrice Bergeron has been named a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Award, awarded to the league’s best defensive forward.

Named a finalist alongside LA’s Anze Kopitar and Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, the award should (seemingly) be Bergeron’s for the taking in 2013-14, but if there’s one player that could steal the Selke from Bergy, it’d be the Kings’ Kopitar.

And while I think Kopitar has been dynamite for the Kings this year, especially in his own zone, Bergeron has some East Coast bias and his performance as Canada’s shutdown centerman at Sochi working in his favor this time around.

That, right or wrong, likely played a role in swaying voters one way or the other.

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