Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic were scratched from the lineup for Monday night’s matchup against the Detroit Red Wings, both apparently for precautionary reasons off possible injuries in Saturday’s embarrassing 6-2 loss to Columbus.

Claude Julien labeled both “day-to-day” at his morning press conference. That same phrase pretty much describes the ongoing status of the Bruins as a Stanley Cup contender.

Julien followed that player-status report with another word he ascribed as a need.

“Commitment,” he said. “That’s the area I think, commitment. We need to be hungrier and a little bit harder.”

Maybe that all began in earnest Monday night.

The Bruins, who were looking to notch two points without Bergeron for the first time since 2011, came out hard and hungry against the Red Wings at 19-8-9 overall, and one of several teams in the Eastern Conference that have improved their game this season. One of several that Boston will have to keep pace if they hope to play in mid April.

How hard and how hungry? How about three first-period goals and 19 shots on net, both first-period highs so far this season.

“It was pretty obvious tonight that there was a bigger determination and commitment to working hard from start to finish,” Julien said after a long-awaited proper performance by his charges.

“This league is too good to win with half a team.”

“This is pretty much the way we need to play the rest of the season,” captain Zdeno Chara echoed. “We had the right attitude from the first drop of the puck.”

Shortly after that first face off, Reilly Smith launched a rocket from the right point that sizzled over Jimmy Howard’s left shoulder at 2:44. It was Smith’s ninth of the season and fifth goal and ninth point in his last eight games.

And the Bruins were off and running to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Justin Abdelkader’s nifty backhand deflection past Tuukka Rask off a Pavel Datsyuk shot at 11:21 evened the game at 1-1. Boston College and NCAA puck fans might remember Abdelkader as the Michigan State Spartan who assisted on the tying goal before scoring the game-winning goal in the 2007 national championship game between the two schools.

“You want to see a response; we went right back after them (after 1-1),” Julien said. “I think the fans want to see that kind of play.”

At just 2-7-1 in the last 10 regular-season games in this age-old rivalry, Carl Soderberg led that right-back-after-them charge

With a Detroit delayed penalty, Gregory Campbell hopped over the boards as the Bruins’ sixth attacker, poking one by Howard in a scrum at 16:12 with Soderberg assisting. It was Campbell’s fourth of the season – and only his second since October 25.

A minute and a half later, Soderberg took a feed from behind the net by Loui Eriksson, beating Howard at 17:25 to up the lead to 3-1.

How offensively challenged is Boston? Soderberg and Dougie Hamilton lead the team in multiple-point games at just six each. Monday was Boston’s 37th game.

The Bruins caught a break at 18:58 when a knuckleball dressed in black floated from the right point over Rask’s shoulder, deflected oddly off the top of Tomas Tatar’s vertical stick as he was lying on the ice. It was ruled over the shoulder in height, and no-goal. But Tatar would begin a possible Wings’ comeback at 15:10 of the second frame, beating Rask on a power-play goal with Brad Marchand on the penalty pine for hooking.

Detroit entered Monday’s contest with a 5-1-1 record this season when trailing after one period. The Bruins were 142-9-6 since 2011 in games in which they held a two-goal lead.

Boston would get its first man-advantage of the night at 3:34 of the final period, immediately converting the opportunity into a 4-2 lead at 5:11 when Seth Griffin blasted a 15-footer over Howard’s left shoulder with David Krejci assisting. It was Griffith’s sixth of the season, second in his last 13 games. That would stand as the final red light of the night until 17:34 when Chris Kelly’s empty-netter iced the win.

“We were focused for the entire game,” summed Kelly after. “There have been games where that focus seems to have slipped. Everyone was focused going over the boards and doing their job for the 40 or 50 seconds they’re on the ice. It was wave after wave.”

Howard, the former University of Maine standout, faced 45 shots in that 60-minute wave, a season high for Boston.

Hungrier, harder and committed were in full force at TD Garden on this night.

“It’s the kind of game we need from here on night in and night out.” Julien stated. “Now our next challenge is the next game.”

That’s Wednesday against Toronto, the last game of the calendar year.

“We need to see if this type of game follows in the next one,” Julien added.

And the next and next and next as a hopeful start to end 2014 and ring in the New Year with more consistency than “day-to-day” questions about the lack of such.