Marc Staal picked a perfect time to score his first goal of the season as his tally at 11:33 of the third period lifted the Detroit Red Wings over the host Boston Bruins 2-1 on Tuesday night.
The 34-year-old Staal flipped in a rebound of Vladislav Namestnikov’s wrist shot from the top of the left circle past diving Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark to break a 1-all tie.
Filip Zadina added his fourth goal of the season for Detroit, which won its third straight game following a four-game losing streak. Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 41 saves in the 25-year-old’s first career start against the Bruins.
David Pastrnak netted his eighth goal of the season for the Bruins. Ullmark stopped 14 of 16 shots to suffer his first career regulation loss versus Detroit after entering at 5-0-2.
Boston lost despite outshooting the visitors handily by a 42-16 count.
Bruins star left wing Brad Marchand served the first of a three-game suspension for slew-footing Vancouver defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larson during Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Canucks. Marchand will also miss Boston’s games at Nashville on Wednesday and versus Tampa Bay on Saturday night.
Boston was also without coach Bruce Cassidy after the sixth-year bench boss was placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol earlier Tuesday. Bruins assistant Joe Sacco assumed Cassidy’s duties behind the bench against Detroit.
Detroit’s Zadina opened the scoring 5:03 into the second period after capitalizing on an opportunity he created.
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After stripping the puck from Charlie Coyle in the neutral zone, Zadina took Pius Suter’s pass after hopping off the bench and split two Bruins defenders before beating Ullmark on a backhander glove side.
Pastrnak tied the game at 1-1 for the Bruins at 6:20 of the third on a power play. Pastrnak snuck into the left circle and ripped a one-timer high to Nedeljkovic’s stick side after Taylor Hall’s pass through the slot.
Detroit returns home to host expansion club Seattle in its next game on Wednesday night. Boston heads out on the road to face Nashville on Thursday night.
–Field Level Media