Bruins 4, Red Wings 1
Rookie Justin Florek and Reilly Smith scored first-period goals and host Boston led wire-to-wire to even its Eastern Conference first-round series with Detroit at one game apiece.
Milan Lucic and captain Zdeno Chara also tallied as the Bruins halted a string of four straight defeats to the Red Wings in the first playoff series between the Original Six rivals since 1957. Tuukka Rask made 34 saves while Jarome Iginla and defenseman Torey Krug collected two assists apiece for the Presidents' Trophy winners.
Rookie Luke Glendening scored the lone goal and Jimmy Howard turned aside 25 shots for the Red Wings, who host Game 3 on Tuesday. Detroit had won eight of the previous nine meetings between the clubs.
Howard gift-wrapped the opening goal for Boston, coming well out of the crease to clear the puck, only to see it careen off defenseman Brendan Smith's leg and onto the stick of Florek, who knocked it into an open net from the left faceoff circle at 7:28 of the first. The Bruins doubled the lead 3:07 later following a sustained flurry against Howard, who stopped two attempts before Reilly Smith tapped in the rebound from the crease.
Detroit dominated the middle session and cut the deficit in half when Darren Helm's shot deflected off both the stick and hand of Glendening before bouncing into the net, but Lucic finished off a perfect give-and-go with Iginla with 1:44 left in the period with a shot that clipped the stick of Howard. Boston put it out of reach at 2:27 of the third, when Chara tucked a rebound of Iginla's shot between Howard's pads during a power play.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Lucic, who made news in Game 1 for a spear on Red Wings D Danny DeKeyser that led the NHL to fine him $5,000, notched his 23rd goal in 86 playoff games. ... Glendening, who signed a three-year contract extension earlier this month, scored his first playoff goal to match his total output from 56 games during the regular season. ... Bruins D Kevan Miller returned to the lineup after missing the series opener, but D Matt Bartkowski (flu), C Chris Kelly (back) and LW Daniel Paille (undisclosed) remained sidelined. ... Detroit failed on all four power-play chances, while Boston was 2-for-4.