Boston Bruins closing in on President's Cup despite shootout loss to Jets

Boston Bruins' goalie Chad Johnson was spectacular between the pipes on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.

Winnipeg netminder Michael Hutchinson was better - which is insane.

Hutchinson made save after miraculous save after yielding a goal on a terrific effort by Brad Marchand on an even more terrific bounce pass from Reilly Smith, stopping 33 shots and keeping the Jets in the game against the offensive assault of the Bruins...

Bruins' goalie Chad Johnson gives up the game winner in the shootout

...until Winnipeg went on an assault of their own, rallying to tie the match at one with less than two minutes to play to force overtime, then dominating the extra period before turning things back over to Hutchinson in the shootout, who stopped all three offerings from the Bruins to beat Boston 2-1 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

"The players played as hard as they could to give Hutchinson a chance to be great and win, and that's what happened," Jets bench boss Paul Maurice said after the game. "He was great - we win."

Winnipeg took the ice with nine of their regular players in the press box with injuries and Boston scratched captain Zdeno Chara, alternate captain Patrice Bergeron and centerman Chris Kelly, both teams shuffling their lines accordingly - and having that much talent out of the lineup certainly showed as the action at times resembled a pick-up game on a frozen pond.

The neutral zone became an old-fashioned pinball machine and the attacking zones a shooting gallery as both goaltenders stretched the limits of their vision and reach, Johnson stopping all but Evander Kane's snap shot off a big rebound into the high slot with 1:57 remaining in regulation, but just one of two in the shootout.

Hutchinson gave up the early score to Marchand, who gathered in an indirect pass from Smith off the end board that bounded straight into the low slot, shielded the puck from defenseman Adam Pardy and beat Hutchinson easily with a nifty backhander across the crease...

...an easy goal that gave one the feeling that the Bruins were going to have their way with the young netminder, who was playing in just his second NHL game - but Hutchinson shut them down from that point forward, stoning several shots from point blank for his first victory.

Jets' centerman Bryan Little potted the only goal of the shootout period, elevating a puck over Johnson's stick-side shoulder and deflecting off the crossbar into the goal for the game winner.

A third-round pick of Boston in the 2008 NHL entry draft, Hutchinson toiled in the AHL and ECL for three years as a Bruins' prospect before signing on with Winnipeg last offseason, so to say that Hutchinson was motivated to beat the Bruins is an understatement.

"Getting your first game is definitely something special, but your first win kind of trumps that a little bit," Hutchinson smiled after the game. "With it being against Boston, the team that kind of gave up on me, it just makes it even more sweet."

The Jets' feel-good story lasted only a few moments, however, as the reality of Thursday night's match being the last home game of the season for the Jets, who have been eliminated from playoff contention, began to sink in - the players taking a lap around the ice, sticks raised in tribute to the fans that endured an up-and-down season with the team.

Conversely, Boston's season continues beyond the final two games on their regular season schedule, and they can clinch the President's Cup and home ice advantage through the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon...

...a game in which the Bruins should have all players back in the lineup to gain back some of the chemistry that had been lacking in the past two games - both shootout losses - as coach Claude Julien shuffled his lines in order to get his greybeards some rest and his injured some time to heal, the performances with the amended lineups still unacceptable to Merlot line centerman Gregory Campbell.

"It shouldn't be an excuse for our team," Campbell lamented of the losses. "We're a good team, and we're built to compete every night. Whether we have those two guys in the lineup or not, things are going to happen throughout the course of the season and if we lost them in the playoffs - It's something that we have to learn to deal with."

Boston Bruins inching closer to President's Cup; Visit Winnipeg tonight

The race for the President's Cup has taken a turn to the west, as the Anaheim Ducks have overtaken the St. Louis Blues in the race for the top seed in the Western Conference, and sit just two points behind the Boston Bruins for the best record in the league.

The Bruins' lead over the Ducks in the race to secure home ice throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs by earning the best record in the National Hockey League is razor thin, as is the tie breaker of best ROW (Regulation and Overtime Wins), both teams tied at 50.

Anaheim has two games remaining and the Bruins three which means that Boston has every advantage on the way to the best record with the two point lead and a game in hand, and though they can't clinch that Cup with a win tonight in Winnipeg, they can make it nearly impossible for the Ducks to catch them.

What does that mean to Bruins' coach Claude Julien?  Not much, unless he has a fantastic poker face or a genuinely perverse sense of humor, as he is expected to continue rotating his veterans as healthy scratches to get them a bit of extended rest before the post-season begins next week.

Top line centerman David Krejci is expected to play on Thursday night after being given a night off on Tuesday, missing the Bruins' 4-3 shootout loss in Minnesota - and taking his place in the press box will be second-line centerman Patrice Bergeron, joining Chris Kelly and defenseman Kevan Miller.

"It is a good luxury, but at the same time, you never want to get out of the lineup," Miller sighed. "Guys always want to play. You can tell someone’s sitting up there, they’re not happy about it, but it is good going into the playoffs to have guys be 100 percent rested."

Ryan Spooner, who was an emergency call-up from AHL Providence due to Kelly's back spasms, will be joining the team in Winnipeg and will most likely skate in Bergeron's spot.  Jarome Iginla is also expected to be in the lineup after missing the past two games.

Luckily, Julien has a lineup that caters to giving players a night off every now and then, as they are widely considered to have the best third and fourth lines in the National Hockey League, as well as a wealth of developing talent at the AHL level such as Spooner...

...but the seventh year bench boss isn't taking it easy on the players in practice, as he held a spirited skate on Wednesday.

"You’ve got to have a practice like we did today. It was based on being sharp and some intensity and it doesn’t have to be long; it just has to be good," Julien told beat writers after the practice. "Guys have to understand that these last few games do mean something. It means staying sharp."

"You don't want to start the Playoffs on a negative note, because you're just kind of coasting through your last few games." he explained.

Boston

Forwards

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Loui Eriksson

Brad Marchand - Ryan Spooner - Reilly Smith

Daniel Paille - Carl Soderberg - Jarome Iginla

Jordan Caron - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Defensemen

Zdeno Chara - Dougie Hamilton

Matt Bartkowski - Johnny Boychuk

Torey Krug - Andrej Meszaros

In Net

Tuukka Rask

Winnipeg

Forwards

Evander Kane - Bryan Little - Michael Frolik

Eric Tangradi - Olli Jokinen - Blake Wheeler

Eric O'Dell - Jim Slater - Matt Halischuk

Carl Klingberg - Patrice Cormier - Anthony Peluso

Defensemen

Tobias Enstrom - Paul Postma

Mark Stuart - Jacob Trouba

Adam Pardy - Zach Redmond

In Net

Michael Hutchinson

Minnesota clinches playoff spot with shootout win over Bruins

They call him "Breezy", but it's not because he's cool and refreshing.

Well, perhaps he is actually a breath of fresh air for the Minnesota Wild, who were a bunch of conforming stiffs before Ilya Bryzgalov came along in a trade deadline deal with the Edmonton Oilers and was supposed to be quirky depth, but has thus far been the bell cow...

...his 6-0-3 record eye-opening, his .929 save percentage and minuscule 1.67 goals against average jaw-dropping - and for a guy that is hockey's number one flake, that's saying something.

Mikko Koivu scores the lone shootout goal in Minnesota's win

Known for his daffy soundbites and wearing his emotions on his sleeve, the only thing that the Boston Bruins care about in relation to Bryzgalov are the numbers two and 142:15, representing the number of consecutive shutouts he's posted coming into Tuesday night's match at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and the time that has elapsed since he's allowed a goal.

Both streaks came to an end on a Reilly Smith drive from the high point three minutes into the game, but that just tied the score at one as the Bruins and Wild set a pace more suitable for an All Star game, Jason Pominville scoring twice for the Wild in regulation and Mikko Koivu potting the lone goal in the shootout as Minnesota rallied for a 4-3 victory.

Ryan Suter also found twine for Minnesota, who clinched a playoff berth when the Phoenix Coyotes lost to Columbus in overtime before regulation ended for the Wild, then clinched the top wild card spot in the Western Conference with the extra point earned for the shootout win - while Boston still managed to increase their lead to three points over the St. Louis Blues in the race for the best record in hockey...

...Smith, Bergeron and Loui Eriksson scoring on Bryzgalov, who faced just 24 shots and stoned all three Boston shooters in the shootout period, while Bruins' netminder Tuukka Rask turned away 21 of the 24 shots he faced including half-a-dozen in a frantic overtime period that saw him making sprawling saves as Minnesota dictated the pace.

In fact, the pace was set and maintained at a high level by the Wild all evening against a Bruins roster that had been shuffled around by coach Claude Julien before the game to accommodate a night off for centerman David Krejci, who joined Jarome Iginla and Kevan Miller in the press box - Julien even rolling defenseman Torey Krug on the Merlot line as the left wing - his spot on the blue line taken by seldom used Corey Potter.

But despite the shuffling that affected all four lines, the Bruins were competitive, if not sharp - and held a 3-2 lead late into the third period when Suter potted the equalizer with just over a minute to play after Wild coach Mike Yeo pulled Bryzgalov in favor of the extra skater.

The opening period was a blur, starting with Pominville's first score, a drive from just inside the blue line that was more of a big whiff by Rask, who seemed to be mesmerized by the elevating puck as he watched it fly past to give the Wild the lead just over a minute into the contest - Smith's drive from the high point tied the game moments later, the puck skirting under the sliding Kyle Brodziak, Bryzgalov looking like he fully expected the puck to be blocked as he barely made a play on it.

Bergeron temporarily gave Boston their first lead of the game, potting his 29th from the slot when a scrum in front of the crease produced a loose puck right in the red-hot centerman's wheelhouse, a sand wedge shot later and it was 2-1 Boston midway through the opening frame...

...a lead that lasted only 29 seconds, Pominville circling in front of Rask after a faceoff in the Bruins' zone, taking a feed across the crease from Matt Moulson and wedging in front of Zdeno Chara to easily slap the puck past a stunned Rask to tie the score at two going into the rooms.

The Bruins took the lead once again, but not before all but four minutes had elapsed in the second period when captain Zdeno Chara zipped a shot from the point that pinballed between Gregory Campbell and Eriksson then past a helpless Breezy for the one goal lead, an advantage that would hold up until the final minute of regulation.

Pominville finding Suter wide open in the high slot Suter tied the score, his snap shot somehow finding it's way through a scrum in front of the Bruins' goal, setting the stage for an entertaining but scoreless overtime period, then Koivu ringing in a puck off the crossbar behind Rask to win it for the Wild in the shootout.

If the Bruins seemed a bit off on Tuesday night, it was just because of the imaginative line tweaking by Julien that got all seven of his healthy defensemen on the ice and flip-flopped the top two lines, with Carl Soderberg moving up into Krejci's spot to center Milan Lucic and Eriksson - and Dan Paille moving up to the third line to make room for Krug on the Merlot...

...but it was the revised defensive pairings that struggled at times, though it seems that the experiment between Andrej Mezsaros and Dougie Hamilton in the third pairing has promise, as Hamilton was particularly physical and engaged on the evening.

The Bruins now head to Winnipeg, where they can clinch the President's Cup and home ice advantage throughout the playoffs with a win over the Jets on Thursday night, coupled with a loss of any kind by the Blues.

Jarome Iginla, Kevan Miller nursing "very minor" injuries; Bruins eye President's Cup

There is little doubt that earning the President's Cup could prove most propitious to the Boston Bruins, what with home ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs at stake - and with a two point lead over the St. Louis Blues in the race for the league's best record and just four games remaining, one has to like their chances...

...particularly with a hefty seven-game advantage in the all important ROW (Regulation and Overtime Wins) category - and it would be particularly impressive given that Boston bench boss Claude Julien has chosen player maintenance over aggressive pursuit, trusting that the deepest roster in the league can get it done without the likes of greybeard Jarome Iginla and bruising blue liner Kevan Miller.

Bruins' tough guy Kevan Miller (AP photo/Charles Krupa)

Both players are traveling with the team to Minnesota for Tuesday night's match with the Wild despite being held out of the Bruins' rousing 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday with what Julien describes as "very minor" injuries - but he stopped short of saying that they would suit up.

"They're still, I say 'day-to-day,' so we’re just going to be cautious this time of year, we’re just not pushing it." Julien told beat writers on Monday morning. "But they’re coming on the trip and is there a chance they could play? Yes."

When pressed as to if they would be able to play were this a playoff game, Julien minced no words:

"Oh yes, no doubt."

But do they need to earn the President's Cup - or do they even want to?

The President's Cup has been awarded 27 times since the inception of the award, but only eight recipients have gone on to win the Stanley Cup - lending credence to the collective thought of the already paranoid and superstitious culture of professional hockey that the President's Cup is cursed.

Regardless, after playing at Minnesota on Tuesday night, the Bruins get teams in Winnipeg and Buffalo that have been eliminated from playoff contention and are playing out the string, then finish up with the New Jersey Devils who are currently three points out of the eighth wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference and may be just playing for pride by the time they host Boston.

On the other hand, the Blues host a Washington Capitals' team on Tuesday night that has an outside shot at a wildcard spot, then go to Minnesota before visiting a Dallas team that's clinging to the final playoff spot in the west before hosting a Detroit Red Wings team that should have a spot in the post-season sewn up by that time.

The Blues have the toughest row to hoe, so to speak, as they face three teams that are desperate and still have something to play for - and any combination of a Bruins' win and a St. Louis loss would all but assure Boston the best record in the National Hockey League.

So for Boston, it's just a matter of just doing what they do and staying the course, because if the President's Cup and home ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals is important to the St. Louis Blues, then all the pressure is on them...

...but if they think it's cursed or just over-rated in general, then they're all set

Lucic nets two as Bruins clinch top seed in East

So...the Boston Bruins are peaking too early?  Try telling that to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Sure, since shutting out the Chicago Blackhawks last weekend, the Bruins have given up 12 goals in four games - including a couple of goals in the waning seconds of periods - and not looking as consistent as they did during their 16 game point streak, but there's no need to go looking for a reason for it - because there's not one.

photo courtesy Brian Babineau/NHLI Getty Inages

At least, there's not something that needs to be corrected - just a stretch of games against four teams in desperation mode and trying to secure playoff spots combined with Boston coach Claude Julien mixing up his defensive pairings to find the best post-season combinations while giving his greybeards some time off to rest their weary bones.

“We’re in a position to utilize our whole bench,” Julien told reporters, waving off concerns that the team had lost the edge that they displayed during the month of March. “I can guarantee you there are situations there late in the period that if we’re in the playoffs, it won’t be the same thing. Let’s not read too much into that stuff here."

The latest chance for Julien to prepare his team for the post-season came Saturday afternoon at TD Garden, where the hometown faithful were treated to more of the same - the Philadelphia Flyers taking advantage of their superior speed and violent intent early, the Bruins taking the bullies' best shot, then cranking their play into overdrive...

...Milan Lucic scoring twice and Johnny Boychuck ripping the long-range game winner with six minutes and change remaining in regulation as the Bruins flexed their muscles and pulled away from the Flyers in the third period for a 5-2 victory - a win that clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference, ensuring home ice advantage for Boston throughout the Conference playoffs.

David Krejci also potted a goal, Chris Kelly added an empty net dagger and Loui Eriksson dropped four dimes for the second time in his career for the Bruins, who now have engineered a 23-3-4 record since a momentum-shifting overtime loss to the Blackhawks clear back in mid-January, overtaking the Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues for best record in the league in the process.

Now the Bruins set their sights on the President's Cup, awarded to the team that has the best record in the National Hockey League - and with it, home ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  And whether or not that is something that the Bruins should be working toward, it may be something that just can't be helped.

“The biggest thing to focus on is not to get complacent, keep on pushing." newly-crowned Bruins' Seventh Man of the Year Reilly Smith offered. "Most of the teams we’re playing are desperate for playoff spots, so just to keep that mind-set and make sure you’re pushing every night and stick to the things that made us successful the last month or so.”

And what has made them successful is their machine like efficiency and their now all-too-familiar game plan of taking their opponent's best shot, all the while wearing them down with their heavy physicality and then stepping on their throats and burying them in the final frame.

That's a script that has served them well all season, and Saturday afternoon against their nemesis from Philadelphia was no exception - in fact, it was a perfect example.

With the score tied at two coming out of the room for the third period, the Bruins set the tone by using Flyers' goalie Ray Emery for target practice, putting 22 of their 42 total shots on goal in the frame - at the same time wearing out the bullies' defense by punishing them against the boards...

...scoring three times in the final six minutes while starting goalie Tuukka Rask turned away nine of his 24 saves in picking up his 35th win of the season.

Krejci ended a personal 17-game goal drought to open the scoring, tracking down a puck knocked loose from a scrum in front of the net and snapping it in for a 1-0 lead late in the opening frame that the Bruins took into the room at the first intermission.

The Flyers tied it up on a Wayne Simmonds point blank backhanded tip in on the man advantage four and a half minutes into the second period, but the Bruins took the lead right back 19 seconds later when Lucic called for and received a pass in the high slot right in his wheelhouse - the one-timer finding dirty ice for a 2-1 lead...

...but it took all of a minute and a half for the Flyers to knot the score again, a rare Jay Rosehill offering that the checking-line left winger somehow snapped past Rask from a narrow angle, the puck flying over the big Finn's blocker from across the crease - but that's as close as the Flyers would come for the rest of the match.

"We've got to come out and initiate the third period with the game on the line, a tied game here," Flyers coach Craig Berube lamented to NHL.com. "I thought that we competed hard up to then and were in good shape. We have to go out and initiate the third period. We can't sit back and can't let teams match you, and I thought that's what we did."

The Bruins commenced the beatings from the opening puck drop of the final frame, taking control of the pace until, inevitably, the Flyers' defense tired and the Bruins' shots started finding the mark.

In rapid succession, Boychuk let one of his rockets off the chain, taking a one-timer directly off a Patrice Bergeron attacking zone faceoff win - his drive from the point never seen by a shielded Emery - then Lucic potted his second of the game just 30 seconds later, Torey Krug leading a three-on-two into the Flyers' zone and leaving the puck in the slot for the trailing Lucic...

...Kelly logging the empty net goal to provide the final score and an end to the Bruins' first two-game winless streak and avoided thier first three-game streak of the season.

What's left to do for the Bruins?

"Well, it's something, I guess, we wanted to do, but it wasn't really our main goal." Rask said of clinching the top seed in the east. "Everyone knows what our main goal is."

And with the season the Bruins have put together to this point, not accomplishing that goal would be a bitter disappointment, if not a major upset.

Rally comes up short, Bruins fall to 'Leafs in OT

Both the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs had streaks snapped in the 48 hours prior to their contest against each other at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday night.

The 'Leafs happily pried an eight-game monkey off their backs Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames - in the process halting a free fall from the Eastern Conference playoff race that has them on the outside looking in at current eighth seed Columbus with five games to play...

...while the Bruins needed a doggy bag to hold the broken shards of their many streaks, including a three game winning streak and an amazing 16 game point streak in which they posted a 15-0-1 overall record - all courtesy of the Detroit Red Wings and some sloppy play along the blue line.

So the Toronto Maples leafs came into Thursday night's game coming off a victory to build on, while the Bruins come in downtrodden with a dark cloud hanging over their collective head - not merely due to losing one game in their last 17, because that would be the epitome of narcissism, but because their defense suddenly has more holes than a bowl of fruit loops.

And that trend continued against the 'Leafs, but it took a Nazim Kadri power play goal midway through overtime for Toronto to pull out the must-have game that kept them on pace with the Blue Jackets, still just one point behind - but the Maple Leafs' 4-3 win may be too little-too late as Columbus has two games in hand.

Paul Ranger, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk found twine for the Maple Leafs against Bruins' backup goalie Chad Johnson, Bozak and van Riemsdyk pulling off a demoralizing piggy back scoring spree between the first and second periods, Bozak scoring with just 12 seconds left in the first and van Riemsdyk 52 seconds into the second...

...the three goals seemingly plenty with Jonathan Bernier in net, as Milan Lucic joined Brad Marchand as the only Bruins potting goals against Bernier until he was forced to retire midway through the third after suffering a lower-body injury, and then Patrice Bergeron planted the equalizer against James Reimer to force free hockey, setting the table for Kadri's heroics.

The Bruins entered the third period down by a score of 3-1, Ranger's backhander six minutes into the contest started the scoring - followed less than a minute later when a Marchand blue line theft of a Cody Franzen clearing attempt led to a drive from the right circle that knotted the score at one...

...Bozak breaking that tie by redirecting a Phil Kessel shot that was headed wide across the crease to end the opening frame - both Bozak and Kessel accomplices on van Riemsdyk's goal less than a minute into the second, Bozak causing a turnover by charging hard on Dougie Hamilton behind the net, Kessel pulling in the loose puck and feeding an uncovered van Riemsdyk to give the 'Leafs a two goal lead that they took into the third.

The score stayed that way until Lucic rattled one in past Bernier from the high slot five minutes into the third frame off a pretty feed by David Krejci from behind the Maple Leaf's net - but Bernier wasn't around to see to see Bergeron tie the game at 3-3 when Marchand hit him in the high slot with a pass from the right circle and the Bruins' alternate captain buried the wrister past Reimer.

With the game in overtime, Bruins' defenseman Torey Krug took a holding penalty and Kadri ended the game halfway through the man advantage, snapping in a rebound from a Franzen drive from the left wing to earn the extra point.

In the past four games since a 3-0 shutout of the reigning Stanley Cup Champions Chicago Blackhawks, the Bruins have surrendered more goals -12 - than they had the previous ten games combined, and for the second night in a row, they couldn't overcome the sloppy defense.

All is not lost in Beantown, however, as the Bruins still have an eight point lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins for best record and home ice advantage in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs - a title that they can clinch with a win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon in Boston...

...while the Maple Leafs might have to settle for beating the Bruins as their consolation prize, because eighth seeded Columbus has the two games in hand and after Toronto hosts the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, they hit the road for three straight to end the regular season, visiting Tampa and Sunrise, Florida before heading to Ottawa to take on the Senators to close out the year.

Bruins' blow late lead, fall in Detroit 3-2

Well, you can't win them all, even if you are the Boston Bruins.

And especially if you are playing in Hockeytown.

The last time that we saw the Bruins play at Joe Louis Arena, they were taking a very public 6-1 flogging at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings, a team that still had Henrik Zetterberg but were just starting to discover what life would be like without Pavel Datsyuk...

Detroit's Tomas Jurco pots the equalizer in the third period

...a Red Wings' team whose defense was so stout against the Bruins that only 17 shots reached Jonas Gustavsson while Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask managed to turn away only 22 of 28 Detroit offerings, a performance that prompted Boston coach Claude Julien to quip, " Everything we did tonight was just a disaster".

A turning point in the Bruins' season?

Well, considering that the Bruins have posted an NHL best 36-10-4 record since that night, an argument can be made for such - though the light really didn't come on until an overtime loss at Chicago at the end of a protracted mid-season road trip, Boston posting an absolutely filthy 22-2-4 record since that night in the middle of January...

...and after Wednesday night's 3-2 loss to the Red Wings at The Joe - their first loss in regulation in over a month - the Bruins still stand poised to enter the post-season not just on a very proper roll, but on that proper roll and with home ice advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.

That hasn't happened as yet, but with the Bruins leading the Pittsburgh Penguins by nine points with just six games to play, Boston can take care of that with a win over the Maples Leafs in Toronto on Thursday night coupled with a Penguins loss to Winnipeg.

But, what is one inclined to think about the Bruins possibly matching up with the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when they can't win in Detroit?

"It's kind of unbelievable that we lost," Bruins' defenseman Dougie Hamilton lamented. "I don't really know how. We matched them. We had good chances and good zone time and everything, so I don't really know what happened."

What happened, of course, is that more pucks got behind Rask than got behind Red Wings' goalie Jimmy Howard and the Red Wings, turning a 2-1 Bruins' lead midway through the final frame into 3-2 deficit in less than two minutes as Detroit won their third straight game, strengthening their grasp on one of the two Eastern Conference wildcard playoff spots.

Boston's Johnny Boychuck gave the Bruins the a 1-0 lead in the waning moments of the first period with one of his patented rockets from the point, just seconds after a Torey Krug missile was disallowed due to some sort of unexplained interference call on Zdeno Chara who was shielding Howard in the crease...

...and then Detroits' Tomas Tatar tied things up in the second just as a hooking penalty against Patrice Bergeron expired - a laser from the right circle that a shielded Rask never saw - but the pesky Tatar wasn't even close to being done.

After Carl Soderberg gave Boston the lead again just a minute into the third period on an easy-looking power play goal from point blank and the Bruins commenced their customary punishment of the opponent to wear them down, Detroit countered with desperation and speed, throwing shots on goal from every angle - knotting the score at 2-2 when a puck somehow got lodged in Bruins' defenseman Andrej Mezsaros' pants during a scrum in front of Rask...

...the puck falling to the ice and Tater, who was busy being beheaded by Boston's Brad Marchand saw the puck at his feet and kicked it over to Tomas Jurco across the low slot who buried it in the net, followed by the Red Wings' speedy Gustav Nyquist catching the Bruins' in a sloppy change for a breakaway goal and the game winner less than two minutes later.

So what started out looking like the Bruins' were going to break a losing streak in Hockeytown that dates back to the 2007 season suddenly and dramatically evolved into another loss at the hands of the Red Wings, who took the season series from Boston and planted a small seed of doubt in their minds as the regular season winds down.

Can the Bruins win in Detroit if the teams meet in the playoffs? Logic would say "yes", but as the Bruins experienced yet again on Wednesday night, the Red Wings success over Boston at Joe Louis Arena seems to defy logic.