With their 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings secured their 3,000th franchise win, propelled to victory by a stellar performance from goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.
First Period
The first period was a slow, choppy 20 minutes for both teams. Both teams struggled to generate any sort of offense, missing on passes and failing to maintain possession in opposing zones. There were no goals or penalties in the first.
Second Period
The Bruins offense started to find some rhythm in the second, creating some quality scoring opportunities and peppering the net with plenty of shots. Through 40 minutes, Boston had 25 shots on goal.
But thanks to Alex Nedeljkovic, the Bruins couldn’t quite find the back of the net. In fact, the Red Wings went to the locker room with a 1-0 lead. Just five minutes into the second, Filip Zadina finally finished on a scoring chance, stealing a puck in the offensive zone and flipping it past Boston’s goaltender.
Third Period
Boston kicked off the first two minutes of the third with a power play after a last-second penalty from Michael Rasmussen. The Red Wings managed to kill off the penalty, but just a few minutes later, a crosscheck from Gustav Lindstrom gave the Bruins another shot on the man advantage. Detroit committed yet another penalty and gave the Bruins a two-man advantage for over a minute. With just four seconds left on the 5-on-3, Boston finally found the back of the net, knotting up the game at one-all.
The Red Wings had their first chance at the power play just over eight minutes into the period. The Wings had a decent amount of time in the offensive zone, but they couldn’t quite find a hole on the defense, and failed to get many good shots off.
A few minutes after the power play expired, the Red Wings cashed in on a delayed penalty on Boston, as Marc Staal whacked a rebound into a wide open net to regain the lead. 2-1 Detroit.
The Bruins gave everything they had to try tie the game back up, but Nedeljkovic refused to let it happen, making save after save.
The Red Wings skated away with a 2-1 win against the Bruins, with Nedeljkovic stopping 41 of Boston’s 42 shots on goal.
The victory is Detroit’s third straight, and it is also the 3,000th win in franchise history.
The Wings return to Little Caesars Arena tomorrow to host the Seattle Kraken.