Less than a week after getting their lunch handed to them by the Detroit Red Wings, the Boston Bruins returned to the Joe Louis Arena, survived another injury scare to do-it-all centerman Patrice Bergeron, and put an end to their three-game losing streak behind a 3-2 shootout win.

The Bruins opened up the night’s scoring with a breakaway strike from David Krejci, and though the Wings tied it up behind a Tomas Tatar marker just three minutes later, the Bruins skated the first period to a 14-to-4 advantage in shots and really controlled the pace of play. This was a noticeable change from the club’s trip to the Joe six days prior, where the Wings simply ran them out of the building despite the close score. (The latter point was all Tuukka Rask’s doing, by the way.)

Led by Bergeron’s face-off prowess, the Bruins would come back at the Wings with the game’s third goal with a second period score that featured a little bit of everything. It all began with a great dump in by Adam McQuaid to keep the puck in the attacking zone. Then Brad Marchand displayed some excellent board-play and patience, outworking two Red Wings. That allowed him to dish it off to Bergeron behind the net, and when Bergeron’s wraparound attempt banged off Jimmy Howard’s pads, Reilly Smith was there in front of the net to bang home his second goal of the season.

The Bergeron line’s dominance has been a constant (for the most part), but their ability to finally get rewarded at even-strength was a definite must for a Bruins club that’s struggled to find five-on-five goals -- a rarity if there’s ever been one over the last five years -- through the first week of the season. This step forward didn’t come without a step back, however, as the Bruins were unable to finish the period with Bergeron suffering yet another minor injury after taking a Danny DeKeyser slapshot to the foot.

Bergeron, who went to the ‘quiet room’ in last week’s game against Detroit, would return for the third period and finish the night without any noticeable issues, but with two dings in a week, you simply gotta ask-- who built Bergeron’s stall at the Joe on top of an Indian burial ground?

Yet, despite the edge in shots, pace, and puck-possession, the Red Wings threw it all at the Black and Gold in the final frame, and struck behind an absolute laser from Gustav Nyquist on the power play.

Tied at two-two through three periods, the Bruins and Wings skated in a competitive five-minute overtime battle, headlined by Dougie Hamilton’s offensive zone creativity, but required a shootout to settle things in the Motor City. That’s when Boston’s goal-scorers -- Krejci and Smith, in that order too -- struck against Howard in the shootout while Rask provided two straight stops to secure the B’s victory.

It was Boston’s first victory in Detroit since March 11, 2007, and their first where they actually looked like, well, the Bruins you’ve come to know and love for years now. A lot of that obviously has to do with Boston’s faceoff success and the play of Krejci, who played in his second straight game after missing the first three, but this was a gritter, more complete effort from the Bruins. That’s something fans have become used to (or dare we even say ‘spoiled’) throughout the Julien era, and especially since the start of the 2010-11 season.

Their work isn’t done, obviously, as the Bruins remain under .500 (though the season is still just five games old) and clearly need to establish a solid lineup to roll with/generate chemistry with.

That last point undoubtedly has the first and fourth line in mind, too. The Black and Gold rolled with Seth Griffith on the first line once again tonight, though Simon Gagne (in his first NHL game since April 2013) had some looks on the line late in the game. Fourth-line center Ryan Spooner also logged zero third-period shifts, and finished the night with a team-low 4:22 of time on ice.
I think the complexion of that fourth line is going to become an interesting debate real real soon. While there’s no timetable for Gregory Campbell’s return, you know that well, it’ll happen at some point. This will pose a problem for a guy like Gagne, who they’re currently using as a winger on that line. Spooner clearly gives Gagne a greater chance to succeed than Campbell. That’s not a slight towards Campbell as much as it’s a difference in who they are. Spooner’s gifted in the offensive end, whereas Campbell’s more of a blood-and-guts, shot-blocking centerman you roll out to grind another pivot down. There’s always a chance that this ‘issue’ works itself out by way of another injury opening a spot up elsewhere, but just how ‘speedy’ and ‘skillful’ the Bruins make that fourth line (when it plays, anyway) will be an interesting development.

Up next

The Bruins head to Montreal on Thursday night for their first crack at the Canadiens since the Habs knocked them out of the postseason in a second-round, seven-game war both on and off the ice. I’m not sure that there was a series that was more mentally exhausting for NHL fans than last year’s Bruins/Habs series, and with the Canadiens in front of their borderline-clinically-insane home crowd for the first time this year, you can expect the emotion to match that of a playoff affair.

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