Desperation.

While trying to hang on to a playoff spot the last few weeks, that sentiment seemed to have been lacking in the Bruins performances. As the losses kept piling up, the urgency in the Bruins game was not shown on the ice.

Enter Thursday night, Game No. 81. The Bruins welcomed the Red Wings, a team who trailed the Black and Gold by 10 points in the Atlantic Division standings in mid-March. They came into TD Garden two points ahead of Boston and fresh off a 3-0 victory over the Flyers, a team who also jumped the B’s and were tied with them in points with 91 entering the night.

Simply put, a win was needed for a Bruins team that was 2-7-1 in their last 10. From top to bottom and start to finish, they needed to play their best hockey of the season.

Desperation settled in from the get go with two goals by David Pastrnak and this year’s 7th Player Award recipient Brad Marchand at 1:25 and 2:44 of the first period, respectively, and the B’s never looked back.

“Well that made a huge difference. We talked about getting off to a real good start [against] a team that had played last night so we wanted to come out strong and we did. Not only that, we managed to get some quick goals here so that made a big difference,” head coach Claude Julien said in his postgame press conference following Thursday’s 5-2 win.

“Obviously with what we’ve been going through here just kind of gave our guys some real good confidence there and loosened them up a little bit and took off from there. There’s no doubt that was certainly one of the keys to the game.”

From Torey Krug scoring his first goal in 54 games — December 5th in Vancouver — to the defense only allowing 15 shots on goal and the Bruins chasing Jimmy Howard out early in the third period after tallies from Lee Stempniak and Loui Eriksson just 20 and 45 seconds into the final stanza, respectively, the Black and Gold finally got a well-rounded performance in a must win game.

So where was this desperation in previous games, Bruins fans may ask? Well, the past is not as important to the members in the locker room as they focus on doing their part to stay alive in the playoff race.

“We’re in the situation we’re in and we can’t look at what could have been or what would have been,” Marchand said. “It’s all about where we are right now and all we can do is prepare for the next one.”

The next one is against the Ottawa Senators, the 82nd and final game of the regular season. With a win and a little bit of help, the Bruins will indeed be stamping their ticket to the postseason.

Thursday was an indication of how good the Bruins can play. They hope that carries over against a Sens team that will be booking their tee times after their trip to Boston.

“Yeah. I believe in this team. I know how good we are, and what we can be when we’re at our best, and everyone’s chipping in. That’s when we have the most success obviously,” Patrice Bergeron said. “So, tonight was a perfect example, and we’ve got to carry that forward.”