Red Wings beat Bruins in Columbus Day afternoon tilt

By Michael Caples –

The Detroit Red Wings competed in a rare Monday afternoon contest in Boston, taking on the Bruins at 1 p.m. to celebrate Columbus Day.

The strange start time didn’t affect the visitors, either, as the Wings beat their new division foe by a score of 3-2.

Henrik Zetterberg, Stephen Weiss and Dan Cleary scored for Detroit, supporting goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who was announced as Jimmy Howard’s replacement just minutes before puck drop.

Howard’s hand injury kept him from competing in the afternoon tilt, but Gustavsson played well in his first start of the season, stopping 28 of the 30 shots he faced.

It was the first start between the pipes for the 28-year-old goaltender, who hadn’t played in an NHL contest since March 31 of last season.

The Red Wings’ duo of Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk teamed up for the game’s first goal, and a lot of it had to do with the Wings’ No. 13. Datsyuk caused a turnover in the neutral zone, rushed the puck up ice, deked Boston captain Zdeno Chara, and sent a pass through a defender onto Zetterberg’s stick. The Red Wings’ captain beat goaltender Tuukka Rask to record his fifth goal of the season.

Loui Eriksson scored the first goal for the Bruins after Johnny Boychuk’s shot hit him in the knee, changed direction, and beat Gustavsson in the first period.

Weiss was the beneficiary of a pass from Johan Franzen for the second Wings goal of the contest.  Franzen spun at the left face-off circle to find the time to send a cross-ice pass to Weiss, who roofed the puck past Rask to give the Wings a 2-1 lead.

Cleary increased the Wings’ lead to 3-1 when he drove to the Boston goal in time to fire in a pass from Daniel Alfredsson.

The Red Wings preserved their lead in the third period despite being on the wrong end of a five-on-three for 1:54 five minutes in.

Milan Lucic pulled the Bruins within one with 1:20 remaining in the contest, beating Gustavsson with a backhander after a Boston-friendly bounce off of Justin Abdelkader’s skate.

The Red Wings were able to keep the Bruins at bay for the final 80 seconds, however, securing the victory.

Detroit now returns home to prepare for the Columbus Blue Jackets tomorrow night. That game will start at 8 p.m., bumped back due to the Tigers game earlier in the day.