Recap: Bruins see early lead evaporate, lose to the Red Wings, 5-3

Playing on back-to-back nights, the Bruins got off to a decent start then came undone, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Detroit Red Wings.

Erik Haula continued his recent hot streak with a well-placed shot to make it 1-0 Bruins early in the first period. Great pass from Taylor Hall too.

After a bit of a shooting gallery, the Bruins take a 2-0 lead with a shorthanded goal from...Brandon Carlo?

The Bruins killed a penalty late in the first period, but Dylan Larkin scored in THE VULNERABLE MINUTE to make it a 2-1 game.

Early in the second, Michael Rasmussen cashed in on a bit of a pinballing puck to make it a 2-2 game.

Just over five minutes later, Filip Zadina finished a great pass from Jakub Vrana with a dart to beat Jeremy Swayman, making it 3-2 Detroit.

Speaking of Vrana, he made it 4-2 Red Wings four minutes into the third period on a shot Swayman would probably like to have back.

Patrice Bergeron made it interesting with a late deflection with the net empty, but Detroit would add an empty netter shortly after to make it a 5-3 Detroit win.

The Wings ended their six-game losing streak with the win, while the Bruins dropped to 7-2-0 in their last nine games.

Game notes

• This was a game where the Bruins kind of doomed themselves with their own mistakes, whether it was failing to clear the zone (Rasmussen goal), questionable coverage (Zadina goal), or a time where you’d like your goalie to make a save (Vrana goal). They were a bit sloppy all night, and the Red Wings were able to cash in on their chances.
• It’s not quite a trend yet, but this was the second time in the last five games that the Bruins took a lead (2-0, in this case) then allowed the opponent to score 4+ goals in a row. The other was last week’s loss to the Leafs.
• The Bruins threw a whopping 50 pucks on net in this game, with Alex Nedeljkovic setting a career high in saves; he also assisted on the empty-net goal so...not a bad night!
• Per NESN, the Larkin goal was the 24th goal the Bruins have allowed in the final minute of a period this season. That’s the most allowed by any team in the league.
• Given their rough night tonight, I’d imagine we don’t see the Reilly-Forbort pairing on Friday night in Tampa (though we’ll see what happens with injuries).
• Already missing David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic, the Bruins were dealt another blow when Hampus Lindholm left the game late in the second period after what looked like an awkward leg-on-leg collision.
• The Bruins’ power play let them down tonight, as they put up an o-fer on four opportunities (though one was a short one). One of the bigger let-downs was when the Bruins, leading 2-1, had a PP and not only didn’t score, but kind of killed any momentum too. Considering Detroit’s sporting the league’s worst PK%, you need to do better than that.

Back at it on Friday night in Tampa!

Hopefully a couple of days off give the injured guys some time to heal.