Welcome to TD Garden for tonight's game between the Boston Bruins and visiting Detroit Red Wings...

In their third 2014-15 meeting of the year, what's left of the Boston Bruins forward corp know that they have to be better to hang with a Detroit Red Wings squad that's won two in a row and sits just one point away from the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

"Commitment. That’s the area, I think, commitment," B's coach Claude Julien said when asked what needs to improve for his squad after getting smashed in Columbus by a 6-2 final. "You know obviously there’s a couple things. We need to be a little bit harder and more committed. Do the things that we have to do to win hockey games. It’s not so much one area where we’re weak, it’s just our game as a whole needs a little bit more—we need to be hungrier and a little bit harder."

The Bruins will be without two of their leaders for this one, too, as both Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic will miss the game with injuries the club's calling 'day-to-day' ailments. That puts top-line center David Krejci in the middle of Bergeron's usual suspects, Brad Marchand and Reilly Smith, and calls Matt Lindblad up from Providence on an emergency basis.

Lindblad, who has skated in one game for the Bruins this year (Nov. 22 against Montreal), has six goals and 12 points in 29 games for the Providence Bruins this season, and will center a fourth line featuring Seth Griffith and Craig Cunningham on the wings.

The shuffling all around comes on the heels of losing forward Matt Fraser to the waiver wire (and the Edmonton Oilers). While Fraser had just three goals in 24 games for the Black and Gold this season, you could certainly make the case that the undrafted winger was in a nearly impossible situation. He's a natural left-winger, and needs a strong center feeding him the puck on a nightly basis, and was never in a situation where he could bump one of Lucic or Marchand out of the top six. Naturally, though, the move comes as soon as Lucic is injured.

The 24-year-old Fraser departs the B's organization after one and a half seasons, recording 20 goals and 30 points in 44 games for Providence (AHL) and five goals and zero assists in 38 games for the big club between last year and this season. Fraser's biggest contribution to the club came with his overtime goal against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the second-round last year.

Fraser was part of the four-piece return to Boston in the Tyler Seguin trade.

In net, the B's give the start to Tuukka Rask. Allowing three goals on 15 shots in relief of Niklas Svedberg last Saturday night, the 27-year-old Rask brings a 14-10-3 record and .910 save percentage on the year into this one, and has two wins and a .877 save percentage in 10 career games against Detroit. Mike Babcock's Wings counter with Jimmy Howard. Howard has a strong 5-1-1 record with a 1.95 goals against average and .937 save percentage in seven career games against the Bruins.

First Period

20:00 - Krejci line vs. Datsyuk line up front, Kronwall-Ericsson against Hamilton-Chara. Howard in one cage, Rask in the other. And we're off.

18:24 - Nice swing and a connection from Chris Kelly, but Howard covers it up.

17:13 - B's strike first, with a point-blast from Smith. Great cycling down low by Dougie Hamilton, while Marchand got right under the skin of Kyle Quincey and took him out of the play. They go at it with some cross-checks after the goal, too. Ninth goal of the year for Smith.

14:25 - Love what you're seeing from the Marchand-Krejci-Smith combo. Lot of movement, lot of net-front traffic. It's a strong mix, and one the B's desperately need against this Wings club.

11:57 - Krejci will sit for two. Detroit to the power play. Here's a problem for the Bruins: Detroit has scored on 31 of their last 106 power-play opportunities. Here's another problem: Patrice Bergeron is not in the lineup tonight. Here's the third problem: Krejci's in the box.

9:57 - Boston kills the penalty. Some nifty work from Cunningham, Kelly, among others on the kill, too. The Bruins are playing with desperation here.

9:20 - Howard sprawls out and gets a glove on a tricky Smith shot.

8:39 - Justin Abdelkader gets Detroit on the board with a deflection. That's Abdelkader's ninth goal of the season, with the assists to Dastyuk and Kronwall. 1-1.

That's Abdelkader's ninth goal. The Wings are 7-0-0 when he scores a goal and 11-1-1 when he registers a point, Datsyuk and Kronwall assist.

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 30, 2014

4:34 - Rask with save No. 9, denying the Wings their second goal of the night.

3:48 - A delayed penalty, a sea of humanity, and Gregory Campbell on the doorstep. That's his second goal in the last 26 games, and his second point in as many games. Campbell was out there as the extra attacker once again, too. This time, it worked.

2:35 - Carl Soderberg in front, and it's 3-1. Great work by Loui Eriksson to outmuscle a Detroit defender behind the net and dish the puck to Soderberg. That's his seventh of the year.



1:02 - Oof, bad break for the Bruins and it appears to be 3-2. Tomas Tatar on the doorstep, but it may have been hit with a high stick. That'd be an awfully tough break for the Bruins here, especially given the way they've really dominated the pace of play in the attacking zone for 20 minutes.

1:02 - No goal. Still 3-1, Bruins.

Thoughts after 20...

Where has this team been all season? The Bruins were desperate, hungry, physical, and everything in between. They absolutely took it to the Wings to the tune of a 19-shot first period. Their efforts in front of the net have paid off, too, with two of their three goals coming from serious net-front traffic and rebounds. Go to the net and good things happen, right?

On a lineup note, you're gonna see David Krejci throw an absolute tantrum when he's put back on a line with Lucic and whoever else the B's deem a fit for that first line. Marchand and Smith love to shoot the puck, and that's a pure delight for a playmaking pivot like Krejci.

An obligatory Eriksson update: He now has six goals and nine points in his last 10 games.

Second Period

15:06 - What a sequence from the Soderberg line (and Dennis Seidenberg and Matt Bartkowski< pairing). Tons of chances, but Howard slides across the crease and denies an Eriksson one-timer. The B's now have 22 shots in this one. The game itself is 25 minutes old. Can't remember the last time the Bruins have had such a sustained attack at one end.

13:13 - Another strong shift from the Soderberg line. They've been Boston's best tonight, no doubt about that. Kelly exchanges some crosschecks with Jonathan Ericsson after, too.

10:47 - That could have been a big one... Refs miss the puck hit the netting high above the glass, and play continues for about a minute and a half down the Detroit end. If Boston (or the Red Wings for that matter) scored there...

8:45 - Rough shift for Brendan Smith. Lines Brad Marchand up for a big hit, but it's Marchand that knocks him over, and then the Soderberg line just walks all over him, nearly scoring a goal. Howard is doing his part to bail the Wings out tonight. He's stopped 25 of 28 through 32 minutes.

6:24 - The Wings will go to the power play for the second time tonight. Marchand is off this time around, whistled for a hook.

4:50 - Tatar with the strike, and this one will count. Make it four straight games with a power-play goal for the Detroit Red Wings, and this one comes off a disastrous start to the opportunity that saw Kronwall's stick break, giving the Bruins a 2-on-1 with a stick-less Kronwall. That's the 15th goal of the year for Tatar, with Danny DeKeyser and Stephen Weiss picking up the helpers.

4:05 - B's back to the penalty kill. Chris Kelly for a trip. Nobody is happy about the call.

2:00 - Boston kills the penalty.

37.9 - The Black and Gold are just trying to survive this period now.

Thoughts after 40...

Well, two strong power-play looks and the Red Wings are back in this game, and the Bruins are happy to head back to their room with their lead intact. The Red Wings are going to come out flying in the third (they've scored the eighth-most third period goals in the league this year), and it'll be up to Rask and the Bruins to keep them at bay and get a much needed two points.

Third Period

16:26 - Bailed out by a penalty. Detroit was happily picking up from where they left off in the second period before a Brian Lashoff penalty puts the B's back on the power play. Hooking.

14:49 - Welcome back, Seth Griffith. With an absolute dart on the power play, and it's 4-2. That's Griffith's sixth goal of the year and his first since Nov. 15. Excellent movement from the B's there, too. That's also Griffith's first goal in 11 games. It's been a rocky road to No. 6.

5:20 - Boston with their 40th shot of the night. First 40-shot game of the season. They had 39 shots on goal in their Oct. 15 shootout win over the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

5:02 - Hamilton off for interference. B's PK set to go back to work.

3:00 - B's with another strong kill.

2:40 - Net empty for the Wings.

2:26 - Chris Kelly, empty net, and it's 5-2, Bruins.

0.0 - Bruins hang on to win this one, 5-2, and gain a much needed two points.

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