DETROIT — Not many folks probably saw this coming from the Red Wings.
Especially not after the last month of hockey, or much of Tuesday's first period. But the Red Wings, to their credit, didn't wilt this time and rallied for a 5-3 victory over the playoff-bound Boston Bruins.
Jakub Vrana's power-play goal and Sam Gagner's empty net goal in the third period were needed bookends, and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic had 47 saves as the Wings earned a much-needed victory.
Boston's Patrice Bergeron scored with the goalie pulled at 17:24, cutting the Wings' lead to 4-3. But Gagner's empty-net goal regained the two-goal lead.
Dylan Larkin's 30th goal, with only 40 seconds left in the first period, cut the Bruins' lead to 2-1 and gave Wings hope. Michael Rasmussen and Filip Zadina scored second-period goals to give the Wings a 3-2 lead.
The victory ended a six-game winless streak for the Red Wings (27-34-9).
Much has been made in recent weeks about the Wings' faltering confidence, but the way they stuck with it against Boston was admirable.
"Confidence is certainly an important piece, but you have to are no easy ways to grab confidence," said coach Jeff Blashill after Tuesday's morning skate. "When you've lost it, whether you're an individual or team, it affects you. But you have to go out and earn that confidence back by playing real good hockey."
Vrana's eighth goal, beating goalie Jeremy Swayman short side from the dot, gave the Wings a 4-2 lead at 4:08 of the third period.
The Wings killed two Boston power plays midway in the period (four for the game), maintaining the 4-2 lead and squashing a key opportunity for the Bruins (44-21-5) to rally.
The Wings certainly didn't inspire confidence after the majority of their first period.
Boston opened the scoring on Erik Haula's goal.
The Bruins came down on a three-on-two rush, and Taylor Hall found Haula open on the wing. Haula lifted his 13th goal, beating Nedeljkovic high at 4:43.
That hurt, but Brandon Carlo's short-handed goal further got the Little Caesars Arena crowd antsy.
The Wings allowed three quality Bruins shots in the opening 33 seconds of the Wings' power play, and Carlo finally converted with a shot from the high slot, his sixth goal, at 14:17, giving Boston a 2-0 lead.
Getting outplayed, the Wings needed something positive and Larkin delivered. Just as a Wings' power play was expiring, Larkin snapped a shot from the dot that Swayman never saw with Oskar Sundqvist screening.
The Wings came out roaring in the second period.
After killing a Bruins power play, the Wings tied it on Rasmussen's 11th goal and third in four games.
Rasmussen got to a bouncing puck in front of Swayman and whipped it into the net, tying the game 2-2 at 5:46.
After another poor Bruins' power play, the Wings went ahead on Zadina's ninth goal. It ended an eight-game point drought for Zadina, who trailed on a Vrana rush, as Vrana deftly found Zadina through two bodies.
Blashill talked in the morning about the Wings' need to be better defensively, and though they weren't perfect, the defense was improved.
“Defensive play is something we’ve talked about all season that we haven’t been good enough at,” Blashill said. “For us to be a better team and avoid stretches like we are in, you have to be a team that’s really strong defensively. The Bruins present two challenges. They certainly exploit you from an offensive standpoint, but they’re very good defensively and they’re hard to create against. It will not be easy for us to create chances tonight, so we got to make sure we limit their chances.
“It’s probably never a matter of changing what we do,” Blashill said. “Certainly, there’s tweaks or adjustments. It’s more awareness of what they’re strong at and making sure we understand where our coverage needs to be great or where we can attack their coverage."
