BOSTON — The Boston Bruins weren’t thrilled to have their matchup with the Detroit Red Wings moved from Sunday night to early afternoon.
Playing their second game in 24 hours, the Bruins played a special game — scoring twice on both the power play and short-handed — to beat the Red Wings 5-3.
The win was the second in as many days to give Boston a four-point cushion with a game in hand on the Florida Panthers for the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
“I see a real strong focus right now,” Boston coach Claude Julien said.
With the two victories, the Bruins, who go into Ottawa on Tuesday night with the hope of holding off the Senators’ charge, gave themselves a bit of breathing room in the battle for the final conference playoff spot while also moving within seven points of the Red Wings for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Asked if the weekend will serve as a character builder for his team, Julien said, “You hope so because we’re going to Ottawa here on Tuesday and there’s another team that is breathing down our necks.
“We hope that we built enough momentum there that we can carry that into Ottawa.”
Left wingers Brad Marchand and Daniel Paille (two goals) both stole the puck from center Stephen Weiss and then beat goaltender Jonas Gustavsson on breakaways for the two short-handed goals — the first time in over 11 years the Red Wings allowed two short-handed goals in a game.
Toss in power-play goals by right wingers David Pastrnak and Loui Eriksson, Boston’s third and fourth of the weekend after going 1-for-14 in the previous four games, and the Red Wings had back-to-back regulation losses for the first time all season.
“We just have to erase that and we have a game [Monday against the Edmonton Oilers at home],” said Detroit left winger Henrik Zetterberg.
The Bruins played well enough to support backup goaltender Niklas Svedberg, who stopped 36 of 39 shots, but was shaky to start.
“I thought we played well, especially with the schedule of three games in four days and back-to-back afternoon games,” said Bruins left winger Chris Kelly.
Marchand, the hero of Saturday’s win over the Philadelphia Flyers with goals with 14.1 seconds left in regulation and then 3:52 into overtime, opened the scoring. The Red Wings answered in the first period, then Paille scored two of the three Bruins goals in the second period as the home team broke it open.
Gustavsson left with an injury after the second period and the Wings will summon Peter Mrazek from the minors.
Paille, registering his first two-goal game since Dec. 12, 2011, had gone 36 straight games without a goal. but has four in the last six after two games as a healthy scratch. His even-strength goal came off a nifty play and pass by new linemate Maxime Talbot. Saturday, Talbot gave Marchand the pass that led to the winner, and he then picked up another assist Sunday.
Marchand, who hit the 20-goal mark Saturday for the fourth time in the last five games, scored for the fourth straight game (five goals, one assist) and has 10 points in the last 10 games.
Right winger and former University of Maine star Gustav Nyquist, center Luke Glendening and defenseman Marek Zidlicky (power play) scored for the Red Wings, who came in a point ahead of the Washington Capitals for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Washington has played three more games than Detroit.
“Sloppy from the beginning,” Zetterberg said of his team’s performance.