BOSTON — Pavel Zacha’s one-timer on David Pastrnak’s touch pass, 2:15 into overtime gave the Bruins a happy ending to what had been an uneven game for most of the night.
Boston didn’t lead until the final goal as they spent a lot of the game getting out-chanced by the Red Wings, but they tied the game on the power play in the third setting up Zacha’s heroics for the 3-2 win.
The Bruins are at Chicago for the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday.
Bad puck management in their end has been a season-long problem for the Bruins. They had multiple chances to clear the puck out of the zone, but weak stick work allowed the Red Wings to keep it in and eventually get it to Lucas Raymond, who beat Joonas Korpisalo to make it 1-0, 7:31 into the game.
Boston responded quickly. Nikita Zadorov, who scored his first Bruins goal on an empty-netter last week, took a pass from Brad Marchand at the middle point and ripped a one-timer by Ville Husso with 10:45 left in the first.
Another bad giveaway by Trent Frederic led to Charlie Coyle taking a tripping penalty as the Bruins tried to recover. On the ensuing Red Wing power play, Marco Kasper redirected a shot past Korpisalo. But Joe Sacco, who lost his first coach’s challenge last week, asked for a review for offsides. It was a gamble. If he’d lost the Bruins would have been two-men down for 54 seconds. But the referees agreed overturning the goal leaving the score tied after two.
The Bruins caught a break late in the second. Andrew Peeke was hit in the nose with a puck after a shot by Tyler Motte. He went to the dressing room with a towel over his face for the final few minutes of the frame. He returned for the third, however, bloodied but available.
Still, the Bruins’ third-period woes showed up quickly after the second intermission. Boston left Raymond open in the slot and Michael Rasmussen found him there. He unloaded his second goal of the game by Korpisalo, 1:19 into the third.
But the struggling Bruins power play came through just past the midway point of the third. Just four seconds into the man advantage, Justin Brazeau tipped Mason Lohrei’s pass by Husso to tie the game with 10:28 left.
Boston got another power play with 4:45 left but didn’t do anything with it as the teams went to overtime.Korpisalo made 25 saves in the win and didn’t face a shot in overtime.
