Rask pushes point streak to 21, Bruins top Red Wings

DETROIT -- Tuukka Rask made 26 saves to extend his point streak to 21 games, and the Boston Bruins continued their hot streak with a 3-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.
Rask is 19-0-2 in his past 22 games (21 starts). He has allowed two or fewer goals in seven straight games.

WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Red Wings highlights]
"The defense does a great job of keeping their guys away from the front of the net, and they know how to get the puck out of the zone," Rask said. "That makes my job a lot easier."
Sean Kuraly and Danton Heinen each had a goal and an assist, and David Krejci scored for the Bruins (32-11-8), who have won three in a row and are 17-1-4 in their past 22 games.
Heinen was filling in on the top line for Brad Marchand, who was serving the final game of his five-game suspension. The Bruins went 4-1-0 during his absence.
"We were joking about it after the game. It isn't going to be easy for [Marchand] to get his spot back," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Danton has done a great job of taking advantage of this situation."

Heinen has no illusions about his short-term future, though.
"I'm just as excited as everyone else in this room to see [Marchand] back on that line where he belongs," the rookie said. "I've learned a lot from playing with [Patrice Bergeron] and [David Pastrnak] that I'm going to use on whatever line I end up on."
Detroit (21-23-8) lost its second straight and has scored two or fewer goals in nine of its past 12 games. Martin Frk and Frans Nielsen scored, and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves in his fifth straight loss.
"We've had 20 guys going hard in the last few games, but tonight we had a handful of guys going hard," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "Did it surprise me? Yeah, for sure. We weren't good for two periods, and then we were good in the third.
"The reality is that we can't skill our way to wins. We have to outwork the other team every night."
Heinen nearly gave Boston the lead at 6:09 of the first period, beating Howard with a wrist shot that hit the post.
Frk made it 1-0 with a power-play goal at 2:08 of the second period, beating Rask from the left face-off circle for his ninth goal.

Kuraly tied the game at 1-1 at 12:11, one-timing Pastrnak's pass over Howard's blocker for his fourth goal.
"That's exactly the kind of hockey we preach," Cassidy said. "He got back to the blue line to fill in for a defenseman, he kept the puck alive and he got rewarded with a goal. That's a Bergeron special, and our young guys are learning from him."
Krejci gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 14:17, slapping home a rebound for his 10th goal.
Heinen scored his 12th of the season at 8:21 of the third period, snapping Kuraly's pass past Howard from the slot for a 3-1 lead.
"We just kept scrambling for the puck and when Sean got it, he gave it to me in a perfect place to shoot," Heinen said.
Nielsen scored with 1:24 to play to make it 3-2 with the Red Wings having an extra skater after pulling Howard, but Nielsen missed a rebound with a chance to tie the game in the final minute.
"I saw the puck but it was bouncing and I just fanned on it," Nielsen said.

Goal of the game

Krejci's goal at 14:17 of the second period.

Save of the game

Rask's glove save on Nick Jensen at 9:12 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Boston's quick passing to set up Kuraly's goal at 12:11 of the second period.

They said it

"We know we've got a great team but we've got to stay focused on playing our game. Even when we get behind, like we did tonight, we know that if we play the way we're supposed to play we have a chance."-- Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask
"We weren't good enough today. We had a slow start, and then we worked ourselves into the game, but we battled hard and came up short. We have to be better from the start if we want to win games." -- Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg

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Need to know

Rask's last loss in regulation was a 4-2 defeat by the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 26. … Bruins forward Frank Vatrano will be examined Wednesday after sustaining a lower-body injury in the second period. … The Red Wings had 16 of their 28 shots on goal in the third period.

What's next

Bruins: At the New York Rangers on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the New York Islanders on Friday (7 p.m. ET; FS-D+, MSG+, NHL.TV)