Bruins at Red Wings
After halted a string of four straight losses to the Detroit Red Wings, the Boston Bruins take aim at their first win in the Motor City in seven years. Top-seeded Boston registered a workmanlike 4-1 victory in Game 2 to send the Eastern Conference first-round series back to Detroit tied at 1-1 entering Tuesday's Game 3. Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said his team "shouldn't be thinking" about not winning at Detroit since March 2007. "We should be thinking about turning it around (Tuesday)," Bergeron said.
The Red Wings finished 24 points behind Boston in the standings but one obvious advantage they have over the Presidents' Trophy winner is team speed - an area they failed to exploit in Game 2. The Bruins succeeded in turning Sunday's matchup into more of a wrestling match than a track meet and had Detroit playing from behind the entire game. "We have to play our style, that’s what helped us against them this year," defenseman Brendan Smith said. "We need to use our speed, play fast."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports, TSN, NESN (Boston), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE BRUINS: A stomach bug sidelined defenseman Kevan Miller and Matt Bartkowski in the series opener, but the former quickly made his presence felt in Game 2 by rocking Detroit's Drew Miller and Daniel Aldredsson with big hits in the opening minutes. "Millsy, right from the start, I thought he helped set the tone with a couple of big hits, and I think they were within the first five minutes," veteran forward Jarome Iginla said. "He's a very strong competitor and it was great to have him back on the lineup and set that tone early." Somewhat overlooked thus far in the series has been the play of netminder Tuukka Rask, who has allowed one goal in each contest and beat Detroit on Sunday for only the second time in eight career meetings (2-5-1).
ABOUT THE RED WINGS: One of the enduring images of Game 2 was a stare-down at the end of the first period between Detroit's Smith and Boston's Zdeno Chara - with the towering Bruins captain laughing at Smith and attempting to goad him into a fight. Smith acknowledged it was not a wise idea to confront the 6-9 Chara, a move backed by Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. "I thought he made a really good decision," Babcock said of taking the high road. "You walk into a bar and there's this beautiful young gal, standing next to this 6-foot-5 monster who you know makes his living fighting for a living and you're the best pool player in the bar. Are you going to play pool? Or are you going to fight. Figure it out, seems pretty simple to me."
OVERTIME
1. Red Wings F Gustav Nyquist, who had 23 goals in a 28-game span from Jan. 20-April 2, is mired in an eight-game goalless drought.
2. Boston's third-ranked power play converted on 2-of-4 chances in Game 2 after having just one opportunity in the 1-0 series-opening loss.
3. The Red Wings beat the Bruins in Detroit 3-2 on April 2 - the first of five straight one-goal road losses (2-0-3) to end the season for the Bruins.