Bruins keep Red Wings from clinching

BOSTON-- David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand scored in the first 2:44 to propel the Boston Bruins to a 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings that prevented Detroit from clinching a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on Thursday.
The Bruins, with 93 points, are tied with the Red Wings for third place in the Atlantic Division. Boston has one game remaining, Saturday at home against the Ottawa Senators. Detroit visits the New York Rangers.

The Philadelphia Flyers, who lost 4-3 in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs, have 92 points and two games left competing for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.
Defenseman Torey Krug scored his first goal in 55 games and had two assists, and Tuukka Rask made 13 saves for Boston (42-30-9), which outshot the Red Wings 34-15 after losing in a shootout 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. The Bruins were 2-7-1 in their past 10.

"Yeah, I think it was one of our obviously better efforts in quite a while," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "From start to finish the effort we put on at both ends of the ice, but also through the middle of the ice there, taking their speed away. So our guys really did a good job tonight."
Alexey Marchenko and Andreas Athanasiou scored for the Red Wings (41-29-11). Starting goaltender Jimmy Howard was pulled in the third period after allowing five goals on 26 shots; he was replaced by Petr Mrazek.
Detroit, which had won three in a row, can clinch its 25th straight playoff berth with a regulation or overtime win against New York.
"We put ourselves in a position [Wednesday] by winning a game to control our own destiny. So let's go win a hockey game on Saturday," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said.

One night after Howard shut out the Flyers 3-0 on 30 shots, the Bruins scored twice on him on their first four shots. John-Michael Liles passed the puck from the defensive-zone left half-wall off the right wall to the Detroit blue line, where Pastrnak picked it up in stride and skated in on Howard. After Pastrnak's backhand gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 1:25, Blashill used his coach's challenge to see if Pastrnak was offside, but the goal was upheld.
Marchand made it 2-0 with a one-timer from below the left faceoff dot past Howard on the short side at 2:44. Krug pinched down the left wall before he threaded a cross-ice pass to Marchand from down low in the Red Wings zone.
"It was important," Krug said of the early lead. "Not only did it push them back a little bit and break whatever confidence they had coming into the game, but for our confidence it was huge to see a couple go in the back of the net early and realize that we can stick to our game and just keep continuing to press on them and hopefully they eventually break, and it worked out for us."
Krug's first goal since Dec. 5 put the Bruins ahead 3-0 in the second period. With Jonathan Ericsson in the penalty box, Krug beat Howard to the short side at 5:02 from the top of the left circle with a slap shot that might've been deflected up high in the zone.

Detroit made it 3-1 on a fortuitous bounce. After Henrik Zetterberg's shot to the front was blocked to the right wall, Marchenko retrieved the puck and took a wrist shot from the corner. The shot hit the skate of Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid skate and got past Rask at 6:59.
The Bruins scored two goals in the first 45 seconds of the third period to extend their lead to 5-1. Lee Stempniak banged in a rebound of a Krug shot at 20 seconds, and Loui Eriksson scored on a redirect of a Ryan Spooner shot 25 seconds later.
Mrazek replaced Howard after Eriksson's goal. Athanasiou scored on a tip-in at 18:37 to make it 5-2.
"Yeah, I thought we were still very much in the game going into the third period, and you can't give up a goal right off the bat," Blashill said. "So basically what we've got to do is, it's a disappointing loss but it's a loss, let's put it behind us and let's go get ready to win a hockey game Saturday."