Recap: Bergeron's four-goal game downs Red Wings, 5-1, in Boston

BOSTON --It's difficult to win NHL games when you're shorthanded five times. It's exponentially harder to win when the opponent converts on three of those opportunities, and the Boston Bruins did just that Thursday night to beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1, at TD Garden.
Bruins captain and 18-year veteran Patrice Bergeron earned his seventh career hat trick and his first career game with three power-play goals, while Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves to earn the win, handing the Red Wings their fourth straight loss.

Detroit goalie Thomas Greiss made 32 saves as the Red Wings fell to 4-5-2 this season. With the win, the Bruins improved to 5-3-0 on the year and 4-0-0 at home.

Both teams traded chances early in the first period, with no blood drawn for either club halfway through the opening frame, but after a controversial call, the Bruins struck first.
Red Wings forward Vladislav Namestnikov was assessed a penalty for playing without his helmet with 9:02 to go in the first, and the Red Wings bench took vehement exception to the call.
The Bruins immediately took advantage of the power-play opportunity, winning the ensuing faceoff to set up a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play from Charlie McAvoy to Brad Marchand to Bergeron to give Boston a 1-0 lead at 11:03 of the first period. The goal was Bergeron's first of the season.
The second period was fairly even through the first half of the frame, but Bergeron struck again on the power play, taking another pass from Marchand from behind the net and potting a one-time shot that beat Greiss to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead with 9:08 to go in the second.
Bergeron earned his hat trick with 1:15 to go in the second on another power play, which was also assisted by McAvoy and Marchand, to give the Bruins a commanding 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission.
The Red Wings broke up the shutout in the third period, as they took advantage of a two-man advantage for 1:10. Detroit showed patience during the five-on-three, keeping the puck in the offensive zone throughout, when rookie winger Lucas Raymond started and finished the play.

Raymond fed a pass to fellow rookie Moritz Seider, who found defenseman Filip Hronek, who threw a perfect pass to Raymond in front of the net for a wide-open, tic-tac-toe goal to make it a 3-1 game with 12:14 left in the third.
The two-goal deficit was short-lived, though, as Boston defenseman Mike Reilly scored his first goal of the season on a shorthanded tally just 24 seconds later with an assist by former Red Wings forward Tomas Nosek to put the Bruins up, 4-1, with 11:50 to go in the game.
Frustration boiled over for the Red Wings in the third period as several players engaged in skirmishes and fights in front of the Boston net. And Bergeron put a bow on his four-goal night with 4:08 remaining on another feed from Marchand to put the game out of reach.
The Red Wings will look to put the four-game losing streak behind them on Saturday night at 7 p.m., as they wrap up their four-game road trip with a matchup against the Buffalo Sabres.