Thursday's game against Boston was the Red Wings' first real test against a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
If one regular season game can show anything, it showed the Wings still have work to do, losing 5-1 to the Bruins.
It was the second consecutive loss for the Wings (3-2-2), who opened the season five games without a regulation time loss.
The game turned early in the third period. The Wings only trailed 2-1 after two periods, thanks to Adam Erne's late second period goal, but the Bruins scored three goals in a span of 1 minute, 39 seconds to make it 5-1.
Coach Derek Lalonde viewed Thursday's game in Boston as an "exciting challenge" against one of the NHL's best teams.
The Wings were coming off a sub-par game Tuesday, an ugly 6-2 home loss to New Jersey, and had yet to face one of the NHL's elite teams.
Boston forward Brad Marchand, making his season debut after off-season hip surgery, scored two power-play goals and had an assist.
Erne gave the Wings hope with his second goal, late in the second period.
Filip Hronek had his shot blocked, but the puck slid to Erne, who simply wheeled and threw the puck at the net and beating goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
Charlie Coyle, Craig Smith and David Pastrnak (power play) added Bruins goals, while Swayman had 27 saves and was crucial early with some key stops.
It was Marchand (power play), Smith and Pastrnak (power play) who supplied the third period surge against under-siege goaltender Ville Husso (27 saves) completely turning the game around.
Many analysts felt the Bruins (7-1-0) would be a prime contender to slip in the standings with Marchand and defenseman Charlie McAvoy (shoulder) unavailable early in the season and age beginning to creep onto the roster.
But the Bruins have looked formidable.
"They're heavy, they're deep," Lalonde said. "(Patrice) Bergeron is going to be a Hall of Famer, he’s an absolute superstar. When you’re a really good team, bordering on a great team, with a great culture, yes, they didn’t get the memo (of sliding in the standings). That doesn’t surprise me. That's a special team. They play the right way. That's what we're trying to get with this organization."Boston is, I don’t want to say the best team in the league right now, but they're playing as one of the top teams in the league. (It's) a good opportunity for us to respond from a performance like that (Tuesday's loss to New Jersey) and see where we're at against a real good team on the road."
