What a difference a week makes. The Boston Bruins have won three in a row and have seven points in their last four games.

Tuesday night, the Bruins shocked the Florida Panthers in a 3-2 come-from-behind win. Milan Lucic scored with 1:09 left in regulation to give his team another crucial two points.

Lucic, Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak carried the load yet again tallying six points on the evening while Tuukka Rask turned away 22 of 24 shots for his 32nd win of the season.

Now with the Ottawa Senators trimming at the Bruins heels, Boston looks to jump to tie the Red Wings, who have a game in hand, for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference with a regulation win over Detroit Thursday night.

In the last meeting between the Black and Gold and the Red Wings, Niklas Svedberg was between the pipes leading Boston to the 5-3 victory.

Boston is catching Detroit at a good time as they sport a 3-5-2 record in its last 10 games.

On the injury front, Brett Connolly participated in Wednesday practice with contact. His status for tonight is still unknown, but it looks like he’ll be making his debut with the Black and Gold sooner, rather than later.

Here is your complete Bruins-Red Wings Preview:

Gametime: 7:30 PM
Records: Bruins 39-25-13 (91 points)/Red Wings 40-23-13 (93 points)
TV/Radio: NESN, NBCSN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: Joe Louis Arena

Bruins’ projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Krejci
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Reilly Smith-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Chris Kelly-Gregory Campbell-Max Talbot

Zdeno Chara-Adam McQuaid
Dennis Seidenberg-Torey Krug
Matt Bartkowski-Zach Trotman

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Red Wings’ projected lines:

Justin Abdelkader-Henrik Zetterberg-Gustav Nyquist
Tomas Tatar-Darren Helm-Tomas Jurco
Drew Miller-Luke Glendening-Teemu Pulkkinen
Stephen Weiss-Joakim Andersson-Danny Cleary

Jonathan Ericsson-Niklas Kronwall
Kyle Quincey-Dan DeKeyser
Brendan Smith-Marek Zidlicky

Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek

Who to watch for Bruins: Milan Lucic

If it wasn’t evident on Tuesday night against the Panthers, Lucic is playing with that killer instinct yet again. It isn’t a coincidence that the B’s have won their last three games and Lucic is in the middle of the action.

On Boston.com: Lucic embracing ‘veteran’ role with Spooner, Pastrnak

Over his last three games, the 26 year-old has three goals and an assist while sporting a plus-5. His game-winning goal that beat Roberto Luongo sent TD Garden into an uproar with just a little over a minute to play in regulation.

The six million dollar man is now tied for second for the team lead in points (44). He is now up to 18 goals and 26 assists only trailing Patrice Bergeron, who has 53 points.

With five games to play in their season, Lucic must bring that attitude on a nightly basis because without question, the Black and Gold would find themselves in the playoffs.

Who to watch for Red Wings: Tomas Tatar

The Red Wings have plenty of fire power on their side and one name that’s been helping the cause is the young Tatar. The 24 year-old has 54 points (28 goals, 26 assists), good for third on the team in scoring.

Tatar lit the lamp twice while notching one assist in his last four games. The second year left-winger also has some flare for the dramatics as he ranks sixth in the NHL with seven game-winning goals on the season.

The Slovakian averages over 18 minutes per contest, so rest assuredly the B’s blue-liners will need to try and limit his chances.

Game Day Edge: Bring that killer instinct

With a 1-0 lead over the Panthers after the first period, the B’s found themselves in a hole after another sluggish second period. But they were a completely different team with their backs against the wall in the third period and came on a relentless pursuit for those two points.

Boston needs to bring that attitude for a full 60 minutes and not just for the first and third periods. They need to have that killer instinct from shift-to-shift and period-to-period.

When the B’s are playing their heavy hitting game, executing their break outs and getting pucks in deep, they are tough to beat. When they are having defensive breakdowns and making mistakes in their own end, there will be problems as seen during their second period blues Tuesday night.

If the B’s play with that edge they did in the third period Tuesday night, they will be walking out of Detroit as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.