Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Brad Marchand scored less than a minute into the second to spark a string of three unanswered goals from Boston, as the Bruins rallied past the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1, on Saturday at TD Garden.
Torey Krug notched a goal and an assist, while Jordan Caron and Zdeno Chara added a goal apiece for the Bruins, who have won back-to-back games to begin the defense of their Eastern Conference championship.
"There's so many things that we have to continue to work on to get better," Krug said. "It's a process; it doesn't just happen."
Tuukka Rask turned away 25-of-26 shots in the triumph.
Henrik Zetterberg scored the lone Detroit marker, while Jimmy Howard allowed all four goals on 37 shots for the Red Wings, who had won their first two games.
With the score locked at 1-1 after 20 minutes, Marchand broke the tie just 36 seconds into second, as he skated down the right wing and wristed a shot from the circle that sailed past the far side of Howard to make it 2-1.
Caron extended the lead just under 7 1/2 minutes later when he buried a one- timer from the low right circle off a slick backhand feed from Reilly Smith to push the margin to 3-1.
Chara's power-play tally in the third put the game away, as the burly Boston defender took a quick feed from Krug before switching to his backhand and lifting the disc over a sprawling Howard to make it 4-1 with 7:43 left.
Rask, who stopped all 15 shots he faced in the second, registered six saves over the final 20 minutes to keep the Red Wings at bay.
Early on, Detroit's Niklas Kronwall went off for holding at 8:56 of the first frame and Krug cashed in just 15 seconds later, blasting a one-timer from the high slot through a Chara screen and past Howard to put the Bruins in front.
"It's not easy when there's someone that's 6-foot-9 standing in front of you," Howard said of Chara's screen. "It's something that you've got to figure out, and find a way to try and find the puck."
The Red Wings responded with 3:11 left in the period, as a long rebound off the pad of Rask ended up in the left circle, where Zetterberg corralled it before rifling the puck over the left shoulder of the Boston netminder to tie the game.
Game Notes
The Bruins had lost four straight meetings against the Red Wings and hadn't defeated Detroit since a similar 4-1 result on Nov. 29, 2008 ... Smith's brother, Brendan, plays defense for Detroit and notched one shot in 18:43 of ice time ... Boston went 2-for-4 on the power play, while Detroit failed on both its chances on the man advantage.
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