(SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Bruins will try to extend their point streak with another win, as they continue their push to the playoffs in Sunday's home meeting against the rival Detroit Red Wings.
Boston rallied for two big points Saturday against visiting Philadelphia. Brad Marchand tied the game with a power-play goal late in regulation and scored the winner with 68 seconds left in overtime to help the Bruins earn a 3-2 victory. It was the third win in four games for the B's, who are 3-0-1 during that stretch.
With 74 points, Boston is two ahead of Florida for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers and Ottawa Senators are five points behind the Bruins and both teams play on Sunday. Philly is visiting New Jersey, while the Sens are at home against Calgary.
The Flyers were less than 15 seconds away from pulling within two points of Boston for a playoff spot, but Marchand scored on a pretty deflection in front of the net, tying the contest at 2-2 with 14.1 seconds remaining in the third.
Then, after Philadelphia's Sean Couturier turned the puck over in the neutral zone late in OT, Marchand took a pass from Max Talbot and headed in on goal for the winning play. Marchand cut to the middle of the ice and sent a backhand on net that hit off defenseman Michael Del Zotto's skate and changed direction before fluttering past Steve Mason and into the goal.
The OT winner was the 21st tally of the season for Marchand, who has scored 20-plus goals in four of the last five campaigns.
It was the sixth straight win against Philadelphia for the Bruins, who also received a goal from Zdeno Chara and two assists from Dougie Hamilton. Tuukka Rask made 29 saves in the win.
"You know it was an important game for us - the Flyers are right behind us, so we knew it was going to be a hard game, but we wanted a win and try to get the better of them," Bruins forward David Pastrnak said.
Boston went 2-for-4 on the power play to push their record on this four-game homestand to 2-0-1. The Bruins are 19-10-5 at TD Garden this season.
Detroit hopes to rebound Sunday after having a three-game win streak snapped with a 5-2 loss in Friday's home test against Calgary. Former Red Wing Jiri Hudler finished with two goals, including the go-ahead marker in the latter stages of the second period to help the Flames skate past his old club.
The Wings led 2-0 before the halfway mark of the first period, but Calgary scored five unanswered goals to take control of the contest.
Justin Abdelkader tallied both goals in the loss, while Jimmy Howard allowed four goals on 23 shots. Erik Cole and Henrik Zetterberg each supplied two assists for Detroit, which holds a comfortable nine-point lead over Boston for third place in the Atlantic Division.
"The bottom line is we leave here disappointed because we didn't do our job," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said.
Backup Jonas Gustavsson is expected to start today for Detroit and is 4-4-1 with a 3.12 goals against average in his career against Boston. Rask could go again for the Bruins and is 3-5-1 with a lifetime 2.97 GAA versus Detroit.
The Red Wings opened the season series against Boston with a victory on Oct. 9, pushing their win streak in this matchup to four games. However, Boston has claimed two straight since, including a 5-2 home win when the clubs last met on Dec. 29. The Bruins have won two of the last three encounters at TD Garden.
The Original Six rivals will complete the 2014-15 series April 2 in Detroit.
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