DETROIT — Defenseman Zach Trotman’s first NHL goal with 2:08 left completed a comeback from a two-goal deficit and gave the Boston Bruins a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena..
Boston moved into a tie with Detroit for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Center Carl Soderberg had a goal and an assist and right winger Loui Eriksson also scored for Boston (40-25-13). Right wingers Reilly Smith and Brett Connolly had two assists each and goalie Tuukka Rask made 35 saves.
Center Stephen Weiss had a goal and an assist and right winger Luke Glendening scored for Detroit (40-24-13). Goaltender Petr Mrazek made 22 saves.
Trotman’s harmless-looking shot from deep in the right circle went off Mrazek and squirted in on the short side.
Glendening gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead 9:19 into the second period. He backhanded in a loose puck that was lying just outside the crease over Rask and under the crossbar. It was Glendening’s 12th goal of the season.
Weiss made it 2-0 with a power-play goal 2:52 into the third period. He put in a loose puck off a goal-mouth scramble for his ninth goal of the season.
But Boston scored 2:14 apart to tie it.
Soderberg got the Bruins on the board with a power-play goal 5:05 into the third, putting in a rebound for his 13th goal of the season.
Eriksson got his 21st goal of the season, at 7:19, when he put Smith’s pass from behind the net into an empty net.
Mrazek stopped Soderberg on a shot from the inside of the left circle off the rush 1:04 into the second period.
Mrazek denied Eriksson on a breakaway attempt off the left wing about five minutes into the second period. Eriksson tried to slide a backhand shot through Mrazek’s five-hole as he skated from left to right.
Mrazek foiled left winger Brad Marchand on a breakaway attempt with 3:49 left in the second period.
Connolly made his debut with the Bruins. He was acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the trade deadline but broke his finger in a practice right after the deal.
NOTES: Detroit was without C Pavel Datsyuk (lower-body injury), RW Erik Cole (upper-body injury) and RW Tomas Jurco (upper-body injury). … Boston D Kevan Miller (shoulder) and D Dougie Hamilton (undisclosed injury) didn’t play. … Detroit C Riley Sheahan returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury. … Red Wings LW Drew Miller played after suffering two lacerations around his right eye that required around 60 stitches when a skate blade accidentally cut his face in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. … Boston RW Reilly Smith and Detroit D Brendan Smith are brothers. … Bruins D Torey Krug is from the Detroit suburb of Livonia and played at Michigan State.
Panthers 6, Hurricanes 1
SUNRISE, Fla. — Roberto Luongo and Jaromir Jagr reached impressive milestones, and the Florida Panthers staved off potential elimination from the NHL playoff race, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 6-1 on Thursday night at the BB&T Center.
The Panthers (36-27-15) could have been eliminated from the playoffs if they had lost in regulation combined with the Boston Bruins win over the Detroit Red Wings.
But Florida’s easy victory over the Hurricanes (28-38-11) kept the Panthers alive, at least a little while longer.
The Panthers got two goals from center Vincent Trocheck. Also scoring for Florida were defenseman Willie Mitchell, center Brandon Pirri, right winger Jagr and center Aleksander Barkov.
Jagr, who also had an assist, tied current Hurricanes general manager and former NHL center Ron Francis with 1,798 career points, fourth all-time in NHL history.
Luongo posted career win No. 400. His next win puts him in the top 10 in NHL history.
Hurricanes goalie Anton Khudobin took the loss.
Florida opened the scoring with just 49 seconds left in the first period. Trocheck won a faceoff, and right winger Jimmy Hayes slid the puck back to Mitchell, who beat Khudobin between his pads.
The Panthers scored three goals in the second period, including one by Pirri that made the score 2-0. Pirri, who picked up a loose puck after Jagr charged the net, has 19 goals in his past 26 games.