Bruins edge Red Wings for 50th win, clinch playoff berth

BOSTON --The Boston Bruins became the fastest team in NHL history to reach 50 wins in a season with a 3-2 victory against the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden on Saturday.

Patrice Bergeron, Garnet Hathaway and Hampus Lindholm scored, and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for Boston (50-9-5), which rallied from two goals down to reach the 50-win mark in its 64th game. The previous record was 66 games, accomplished by the 1995-96 Red Wings and 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins also became the first team in the NHL to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the New York Islanders lost 5-1 to the Washington Capitals later in the day.
"It's been fun. It's a great team," Bergeron said. "Great team chemistry as well, and I think [that guys] stick together, but obviously our depth is something we want to rely on."

Andrew Copp and Alex Chiasson scored, and Hellberg made 35 saves for Detroit (29-27-9), which has lost seven of its past eight games (1-6-1).
"Second period burnt us," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "Our four penalties happened in the first 30-35 minutes (of the game), and it's just too much on our group. And it just gives their top guys too much momentum. So it's unfortunate because we had a really good opportunity."
The Bruins opened the second period with 12 straight shots on goal.
"[Detroit] pushed hard in the beginning of the game, and I thought in the second period we played our best hockey. Bruins hockey," Greer said. "It was just relentless and offensive driven, connected. A little slip [in the] third, but again, we're looking at it as, you know, we just got to make sure to overcome these hardships and these push backs that team gave us."
Lindholm cut it to 2-1 at 12:43 of the second, scoring with a shot through traffic from the point.
Dylan Larkin appeared to extend the lead for Detroit 45 seconds later, but the goal was waved off after he was called for interference. On the ensuing power play, Bergeron tied it 2-2 at 14:11, redirecting Jake DeBrusk's pass in the slot.
"Tough swing there," Larkin said. "We think we go up 3-1, and they call the penalty late. … But we responded well, and we had a good third period. We just came up short, and it was really hard tonight, but I thought it was a good effort because we battled a lot out there."
Ullmark kept the game tied at 10:11 of the third period by making a sprawling glove save on Chiasson, who received a pass from behind the net from Austin Czarnik
"[The Bruins] show why they're the team they are," Lalonde said. "They push in the second. Their goalie is the Vezina winner with the way he played in the third, and they found a way in the end. But again, I'm most encouraged, at 2-2, the play of our third (period)."
Hathaway then gave Boston a 3-2 lead at 13:54 of the third, finishing the rebound of A.J. Greer's shot on a 3-on-2 rush with his backhand.
"Our game is moving through the zones, trying to get into the [offensive] zone," Hathaway said. "I think we were hoping to wear [Red Wings goalie Magnus Hellberg] down a little bit tonight. Then the goal for the [fourth] line was just kind of the cherry on top."
Copp gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 1:36 of the first period, shooting blocker side from the right circle on a 2-on-1 following a turnover by David Krejci.

Chiasson made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 4:32, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with David Perron and Larkin at the edge of the crease. It was Chiasson's first goal of the season (fourth game)
"Yeah, it was a great [start]," Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider said. "I think if we start the rest of the season like that, we will give [ourselves] a really good chance of winning a lot of hockey games. But other than that, I think we just have to out-compete teams in the second period to put our game up a notch a little bit more."
NOTES: The Red Wings scored a short-handed goal and a power-play goal in the opening five minutes of a game for the second time in their history (March 10, 1965). … Bergeron scored his 130th power-play goal, passing Cam Neely for fourth in Bruins history. Ray Bourque is first with 164. … Dmitry Orlov had an assist and has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in seven games with Boston. It is the fewest games needed to reach the make by a defenseman in its history.