BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Bruins got the best of the Western
Conference-leading Detroit Red Wings for the second time in four
days.
Joe Thornton scored with 2:30 left in overtime to lead the
Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Red Wings on Saturday, extending
their winning streak to three games.
Detroit, which lost 3-0 to Boston on Wednesday, was beaten in
overtime for just the second time this season.
The Red Wings entered Saturday's games tied with Toronto for the
NHL lead in points with 57.
"This goes to show you how good of a team we are in here, what
kind of team we have. When we play with focus, and we come out and
play hard we can compete with anybody," said Andrew Raycroft, who
made 27 saves for Boston.
Dan McGillis charged the net and dumped the puck to a trailing
Thornton, who beat Curtis Joseph for the winner and his ninth goal
of the season. Joseph bit on a fake shot by McGillis because he
didn't think McGillis could see Thornton trailing. That left
Thornton with a wide-open net.
"Cujo squares up to the puck so well that, when I looked up and
saw an empty net, I didn't really believe it," Thornton said.
"But you've got to bury your chances when you get them."
Martin Lapointe scored his eighth goal of the season on a power
play 4:46 into the third to erase Detroit's 1-0 lead. Boston was on
the man-advantage after Pavel Datsyuk was given a game misconduct
for boarding Michal Grosek. The Red Wings were able to stay even by
killing off the final 3:24 of the Bruins' power play.
"With a five-minute major, you can really get yourself in a lot
of trouble," Detroit coach Dave Lewis said. "We lose our best
player for 18 minutes and they have a five-minute penalty and they
get the goal."
Kirk Maltby gave Detroit the lead eight minutes into the first
with his seventh goal of the season. Ray Whitney put a shot on net
from between the circles that was deflected by Andrew Raycroft.
Maltby corralled the rebound and flicked the puck into the net.
Boston extended its strong play on the penalty kill by holding
Detroit without a goal on four power plays. The Bruins have killed
55 of their last 57 penalties.
"We've put a lot of work into (our penalty kill) from Day 1,
and as a group I think they are really starting to understand what
we are trying accomplish," Boston coach Mike Sullivan said.
Steve Yzerman had an assist for Detroit, moving within 14 of
Marcel Dionne for seventh place on the NHL's career list with
1,026.
Joseph stopped 33 shots for the Red Wings.
^Notes:@ The Red Wings have lost to every other Original Six team
this season. Detroit is 0-1 against Montreal, New York and Toronto,
1-0-1-0 against Boston and 3-1-0-1 versus Chicago. ... Datsyuk was
held without a point for the fourth straight game, his longest
drought of the season. ... Bruins winger P.J. Axelsson was
scratched after spraining his knee Thursday against Pittsburgh. He
is listed as day to day.