Last Wednesday night the Black and Gold had their best start – and worst finish – of the season in a 6-5 shootout loss at Detroit where they jumped out to a 4-1 first period lead.

With two games to go before the All-Star break, the Wings were back at TD Garden Tuesday night for the seven-day version of a back-to-back affair. Boston, winless in four straight and 1-3-1 in its last five, dropping out of playoff contention Monday night when the surging Maple Leafs took two points at home against Calgary.

Did we say at home? Not where the heart is for the struggling B’s who were 10-12-0 on Causeway Street into Tuesday night.

Tuukka Rask took himself out of Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh, down 2-1 that ended 5-1. An embattled Claude Julien still patrolling the pine with the rumor energy about his status equal to Monday night’s nor’easter

Need any more of an adversarial backdrop for Boston to earn a “W” with Detroit four points in their rear-view mirror?

Rask at 22-12-4 back vs. Jared Coreau at 5-1-2, lasting only one period last week. Defensemen Colin Miller (lower body) and Kevan Miller (concussion) back after missing six and four games, respectively.

Here’s what we learned as Boston put all that aforementioned adversity on the backburner and played a gritty 60-plus minutes to grind out the 4-3 win in overtime.

First 20 favors Bruins again

Just a minute into the game and David Backes scooped a Wings’ turnover to send Frank Vatrano in alone on Coreau who made the save. An ensuing power play kept the action in Detroit’s end for most of the two minutes. At 4:29 Kevan Miller drilled a 20-foot wrister past Coreau for the 1-0 lead with Dominic Moore (7th Player Award?) and Tim Schaller assisting.

At 10:59 – and Detroit’s very first shot on net, trailing 12-0 – Andreas Athanasiou beat Brandon Carlo in a foot race through center ice, took a pass from Mike Green and went in alone on Rask with the clean forehand to tie the game.

With 30 seconds left in their second man-advantage, David Pastrnak sent a 40-foot floater on net that Coreau saved, but coughed up the juicy rebound with Brad Marchand perched on the doorstep. He promptly deposited his 18th of the season and 15th point in his last 10 games at 17:34 with Ryan Spooner also assisting.

The Bruins outshot the Wings, 21-7, in the first period.

That shot-differential factor front and center

The Bruins lead the NHL with a plus-488 shot differential. Sounds impressive, eh? Not when the fact that they are 24th in the league in scoring enters.

Mike Green banked a 30-footer off the skate of Kevan Miller at 6:25 to knot the game at 2-2 on the Wings’ 10th shot on goal. A good example of too many Black-and-Gold shots fall short of serious scoring threats, while the opposition makes good.

Frank Vatrano allowed a turnover on his blue line that led to Detroit’s Tomas Tatar going end to end with Carlo. Rask made most of the save, but not all as the puck trickled behind him for a 3-2 Wings’ lead on Detroit’s 13th shot on net.

The second-period shots ended with a 33-16 total – Boston. The second period goals ended with a 3-2 total – Detroit.

At the end of regulation a 47-24 differential in a tie game.

The Bruins were 1-16-3 this season when trailing after two periods.

Make that 2-16-3; the winner with 47 ticks left in OT

The OT-winner, from @pastrnak96 🚨 pic.twitter.com/hhlNtpT4eQ

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 25, 2017

Patrice Bergeron put a shot on Coreau in a scrum in front at 8:20. The rebound squirted to Marchand who poked it back for the 3-3 tie; Torey Krug also assisting. The goal tied Marchand for the team lead at 19 with Pastrnak.

“When you’re down by a goal and you lost the last four games you’ve got to step up and it’s about everyone finding the extra gear and in the third, I thought we did that,” Bergeron said.

Rask’s save of the game came at 15:17 with a brilliant right-save pad on a Tatar 15-foot laser. A second game saver on a cross-crease slide to keep Darren Helm’s winner out with 35 ticks left to force OT.

Onto overtime with Spooner coming close halfway in with a backhand that dribbled past the open net. But with 47 seconds left, David Krejci sent a soft pass to Pastrnak who blasted a 15-foot bullet past an unflinching Corneau for the winner. It was Pastrnak’s first in 18 games since December 12, putting him back in the team lead with 20.

“I said that might happen that I might not score for a couple games, and it was more than a couple,” Pastrnak summed. “It’s a lot of fun, three-on-three, for skill players.”

“Hopefully it gets that monkey off his back,” Julien said about Pastrnak’s goal. “It’s been a while and I think that he has been feeling the pressure.”

Back in a playoff position

With Ottawa winning Tuesday night and beginning to pull away for second in the Atlantic and a whopping five games in hand, it’s getting clearer by the day that Boston’s sole playoff hopes are third in the Atlantic or the last wild card for eighth in the conference. Tuesday’s win puts them back in third in Atlantic, a point ahead of Toronto (also with five games in hand) and two ahead of the Flyers (two games in hand) for the last wild card spot.

“I think the frustrating thing was that we were playing pretty well and then the other team just kept getting the lead on us,” Marchand said about the team’s inconsistencies. “You know I think that’s the frustrating thing but I think we showed a lot of character and resiliency, and a great comeback win tonight.”

“I think once in a while when you get tired of losing, you do something about it. And I think tonight our guys had that determination,” Julien added. “Those first wins are never easy after you’ve lost a lot of games and hopefully that’s the first moving in the right direction.”