BOSTON -- Playing their fourth game in the last six days, this also being the second half of a back-to-back set, the Detroit Red Wings were kept off the scoreboard for just the third time this season in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday night.
“It’s probably fair to say,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said when asked if tired legs might’ve caught up to his players. “In the third period, we didn’t have as much in the tank as we needed it and sometimes you got to give the other team credit. They checked really well. They’re a heavy team, so to come from behind and not have gas is a tough thing. We needed to get the second one, we didn’t and that’s it.”
Goalie Cam Talbot was strong in his first start since Jan. 1, finishing with 38 saves as Detroit (28-16-4; 60 points) saw its four-game winning streak halted. Recording his first shutout of the campaign was netminder Jeremy Swayman, who made 24 saves for Boston (26-19-2; 54 points).
“I thought Talbs was unbelievable for us and gave us a chance to win that game,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “I think we had some O-zone possession, but just a little one-and-done. Missed on our big chances. A tough back-to-back. Can’t make excuses, but I thought we battled and hung in there.”
Detroit’s opening power play couldn’t find the back of the net after Marco Kasper was tripped by Elias Lindholm at 11:59 of the opening frame, which also saw Talbot and Swayman each come up with some timely stops throughout to keep things scoreless into the first intermission.
Talbot and the Red Wings’ penalty killers shut down the Bruins’ first power play, which they earned 2:35 into second period. Morgan Geekie had a partial breakaway chance with less than two minutes to go before the stanza’s halfway point, but Detroit’s 38-year-old netminder made a terrific glove save to prevent the 27-year-old forward from flipping the puck in tight after he had snuck behind the defense.
“He played unreal,” Mortiz Seider also said of Talbot. “Really kept us in the game the whole way and stepped up when we needed him.”
Both Original Six and Atlantic Division rivals would finish the night 0-for-2 on the man advantage.
Unfortunately, Boston broke the deadlock just 2:28 later, as Pavel Zacha controlled a bouncing puck that was pushed to him by Mason Lohrei and circled to the high slot before sending a wrist shot past a screened Talbot for the 1-0 lead.
“They have size, they’re heavy, they check well, have good goaltending and they can clamp down,” McLellan said. “They get the lead, and they can clamp down.”
The Red Wings watched the Bruins build a 2-0 lead at 3:49 of the third period. After Talbot stopped Charlie McAvoy’s initial shot, the blueliner went to the net and collected his own rebound then fed Fraser Minten with a cross-crease pass for a tap-in goal.
“We felt like we established our game in the second,” McLellan said. “We were happy with it. We created some opportunities, and if we could play that period over again, we gave ourselves a chance. But obviously, we couldn’t and the second [goal Boston scored] hurt us.”
Icing the Bruins’ fourth straight victory, Mark Kastelic added an empty-net goal with 3:59 remaining for the 3-0 final.
“Tonight was a missed opportunity, but I think the body of work that we’ve put in the past six games, the past 48 games, has put us in a spot where we can’t be satisfied,” Larkin said. “We can’t be comfortable, but it helps to be in our position. One thing we’ve done is bounce back, so I expect our team to bounce back after this loss, shake it off, have a good practice and be ready to go for Friday night.”
NEXT UP: Detroit will host the San Jose Sharks for Black History Night at Little Caesars Arena on Friday.
