Second period quick hits: 

Loui Eriksson, Carl Soderberg and Chris Kelly continue to gel together. In the second period, the trio had numerous chances on Jimmy Howard. Claude Julien may need to think twice when breaking up this line. The three have combined for three points and six shots while sporting a plus-6 rating through two periods.

The Bruins owned a two-goal lead at the start of this middle frame. They are 9-2 when having a two-goal lead this season and they are 142-9-6 since the start of the 2010-2011 season.

Brad Marchand’s hooking penalty lead to Tomas Tatar’s 15th goal of the season on the power-play. It cut the Red Wing’s deficit in half with 4:50 remaining.

The Red Wings showed a bit of a surge testing Tuukka Rask more than in the first period. Mike Babcock’s team rattled off another 12 shots to the Bruins 11. They were winning more battles, moving the puck more and getting shots through on Rask.

Craig Cunningham is making a case to stay with the big club through two periods. His speed has been an asset for the Black and Gold tonight while his play on the penalty-kill has been great. Cunningham has one shot, two hits, has won 57% of his face-offs in just 6:42 of ice time.

First period quick hits:

The Bruins got off to the fast start they needed to without Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic on a blast from Reilly Smith. After Justin Abdelkader tied the game at 1-1 with a nifty goal from his knees, Gregory Campbell and Carl Soderberg scored to give the B’s a two-goal lead after 20 minutes.

The net front presence has been good for the Black and Gold as well. Brad Marchand caused havoc with Kyle Quincey obstructing the view of Jimmy Howard leading to Smith’s tally. Campbell’s goal was caused by winning the battle in the dirty area resulting in Howard sprawled out on the ice. Soderberg’s seventh of the season was a give-and-go near the crease.

The Bruins had 19 shots in that period, scoring three times. Claude Julien preached putting pucks on net and his team responded. The Marchand-Krejci-Smith line has compiled seven shots in the first 20 minutes of play.

Tuukka Rask stood tall for the Black and Gold in the first 20 minutes stopping 11 of 12 shots. Rask bounced back from his relief appearance in Columbus where he allowed three goals on 15 shots. The Finnish net-minder has won his last two starts heading into tonight.

The Bruins penalty kill held the Red Wings power-play unit in check on their only penalty kill in the first period. The Red Wings came into tonight’s game ranked third in the NHL on the man-advantage.