They say that Stanley Cups are won with defense and goaltending, but timely scoring can certainly help, and that’s exactly what the Bruins got Thursday night in Game 4.

Trying to tie the series at two, the Red Wings came out buzzing in Game 4, jumping out to a second period two goal lead. The Bruins cut the lead in half midway through the second period, but it was the next two goals that were huge for the Bruins.

Just 1:15 into the third period, Milan Lucic tapped home a nifty feed from Carl Soderberg to tie the game at two, Lucic’s second goal of the series.

After the remaining 18:45 went scoreless, the two teams skated in overtime with one team seeking a commanding 3-1 series lead, the other looking to guarantee at least one more game at “The Joe.”

Luckily for the Bruins, Jarome Iginla was able to tip in a Dougie Hamilton point shot to give the Bruins their third straight win in the series and a chance to end things on Saturday in Boston.

“Well we had a good shift; I thought we had a little bit of zone time there, some plays, some rotations, some corner battles and stuff. I think [David] Krejci made a nice pass over to Dougie, I was just going to the net” Iginla said.

“I think Looch was already in front of the net, battling with one of their guys. Dougie just shot it and I was trying to get a stick on it, just tip it, and it went right past Looch and their guy battling. So it was a fortunate goal, a fortunate bounce, an ugly one, but that seems like how a lot of those are in OT.”

After being one of the NHL’s most productive lines in the regular season, the trio of Lucic, Krejci and Iginla has failed to do the same against the Red Wings, but now with three goals in four games for the Bruins’ top line, the tide seems to be turning.

“You know every night we need guys to step up. Obviously it would be nice to have all our top guys score every single night, but that’s not how it is in the playoffs. But you need guys to come up in big situations” said Bruins forward Brad Marchand.

Things have been going great for the Bruins in the series thanks to their depth and secondary scoring, but if the top line can get back to where it was when the regular season ended, the Bruins will be in good shape.

“You know, you want to get better as the series goes on and we were able to do that in the third period as a line” added Lucic.

As the Bruins return home to host the Red Wings in Game 5 Saturday afternoon, the Bruins know the last one is the most difficult to get. All they have to do is look back to their first round matchup last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs to remind themselves of that.

We were in this same position last year, winning Game 4 in overtime against Toronto and we all know what happened after that” said Lucic. “So we’re not taking anything for granted here. We all know how hard it is to close out a series and we know how desperate they will be on Saturday.”

Another solid performance from Lucic and his linemates could be just enough to send the Red Wings home and help set up a second round date with the Montreal Canadiens.

Boy, that would be fun.

Hear what Lucic, Iginla, Marchand and others had to say following the Bruins 3-2 Game 4 victory: