Red Wings Struggle Mightily in 5-1 Loss to the Boston Bruins

The Detroit Red Wings kicked off 2022 with a matinee matchup with the Boston Bruins. It also happened to be one of the first January games in a long while where Detroit was being mentioned in a potential playoff spot.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored his 13th goal of the season, but it wasn’t enough as the Red Wings fell to Boston 5-1 in a game that really left a lot to desire.

The first period saw early power plays for both teams, with Detroit killing Boston’s off first and sporting a couple scoring chances that didn’t turn into anything. Boston pestered Detroit’s power play during their man advantage, not allowing the Red Wings to get comfortable to set anything up. Alex Nedeljkovic came up big a couple times, none bigger than a bizarre chance in front of the net where a shot ricocheted off the boards and back out in front of the net where Oskar Steen was alone and had a point blank chance. Nedeljkovic stood his ground and swiped the shot aside.

The Red Wings would strike first when Bertuzzi slammed home a Danny DeKeyser shot from the point that hopped right to the hard nosed forward off of a rebound. The goal was Bertuzzi’s 13th of the season.

The Bruins answered with 5:13 left in the first when Patric Bergeron scored on a pretty give and go to even the score at one. The Red Wings would get another power play chance with just under 30 seconds left in the first, getting. a couple good chances before the horn sounded.

The second period didn’t see a power play goal and the back and forth between teams continued until Vladislav Namestnikov tussled with Brad Marchand, and got the better of him. A spirited Namestnikov chirped him as he was pulled off by a ref, and then exuberantly yelled as he skated to the penalty box.

The Wings and Bruins would tussle quite a bit through the period, but Boston would snag a 2-1 lead midway through the period. The Red Wings were given another power play attempt, but it was ineffective as the first two were.

Detroit would get its fourth chance on the man advantage and it too, wouldn’t yield a goal. Boston tallied another goal in the third, and would get another off a rebound with 12:05 left putting the lead to 4-1. As if that wasn’t enough, former Red Wing Tomas Nosek buried one to make it 5-1, and my goodness, it was brutal to see a penalty called soon after the goal, sending the Bruins to a power play.

Take it for what it is, as this team is still getting its legs back after missing two weeks. But outside of Bertuzzi’s goal and the scraps, it looked like the Red Wings were sleepwalking through the game. A lot of Twitter dismay at head coach Jeff Blashill, too.

More on that in another piece.

They’ll take on San Jose next at home Tuesday.