Bruins winning streak ends at six in loss to Red Wings

DETROIT --The Boston Bruins' winning streak ended at six games with a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday.

"I thought we skated really well, and we had a lot of chances, but we didn't put them away," said Torey Krug, who scored Boston's goal. "We didn't take advantage on our power play (0-for-4) and they got a goal on theirs, and that was the difference."
Andreas Athanasiou scored two goals and Jonathan Bernier made 39 saves for the Red Wings (14-39-4), who won for the second time in 12 games (2-9-1). They had been shut out in three of their previous four games.
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Red Wings highlights]
"This is obviously a good test for us," Athanasiou said. "This shows everyone in the room that if we compete, we can beat anyone."
Despite playing for the worst team in the NHL, Bernier is 7-5-0 with a 1.97 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in 13 games since Dec. 12.
"When you have a goalie playing like that, he does two things for the team," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "First, he gives you a lot of confidence, but the big thing is he keeps you in a lot of games without losing your momentum."
The Bruins (34-11-12) were 10-2-1 in their previous 13 games but lost in Detroit for the second time this season.
"It's a tough loss for sure, it felt like the puck was right around the net a lot, but we were never in the right spot," David Pastrnak said. "We needed the power play to be better."

Tuukka Rask made 17 saves in place of scheduled starter Jaroslav Halak, who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury.
"(Halak) has been dealing with it for a while and he was able to play Wednesday with it, but it flared up this morning," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "When you are playing at 12:30, there's not a lot of time to do anything but put Tuukka out there."
Bernier made three close-in saves to help the Red Wings kill a 78-second 5-on-3 power play in the first period.
"I thought our killers did a nice job there, but at 5-on-3, your goalie is always your best killer," Blashill said. "He did a great job of anticipating their shots and getting into position."
Brendan Perlini gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 2:07 of the second, scoring for the first time since being acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 28.

Brad Marchand appeared to tie the game at 12:32, but the Red Wings successfully challenged that Patrice Bergeron was offside.
"It's frustrating, but that's the rule," Bergeron said. "It's on me to get off the ice on the right side of the line and I just didn't do it."
Krug tied it 1-1 at 33 seconds of the third period, tapping in Pastrnak's pass for his eighth goal of the season.
Athanasiou put the Red Wings ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 7:10, his first goal since scoring twice against the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 16. He made it 3-1 with an empty-net goal at 19:31.
"I'm feeling pretty good," said Athanasiou, who returned Feb. 3 after missing 15 games with an injury. "I'm better every game."
Red Wings forward Robby Fabbri left in the second period with an upper-body injury. Blashill didn't have an update after the game.

They said it

"We thought this was going to be tougher mentally than physically and that turned out to be the case. We didn't do a good job of getting our forwards to the top of the crease early in the game, which is how you have to play Detroit. And then when we did, our forwards missed two wide-open nets." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on Boston playing at 12:30 p.m. in Detroit after playing at home Saturday
"It was certainly a point of emphasis tonight. It is always important to block shots, but especially against a team that shoots the puck from the point like Boston does. We were really committed to blocking shots early in the season, and then we had a stretch where we got away from it for a while. We need to be ultra-committed to doing that every night." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill on Detroit's 12 blocked shots

Need to know

Referee Dan O'Halloran was honored in the first period for working his 1,500th NHL game. … Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon was suspended two games for an illegal check to the head of Arizona Coyotes center Derek Stepan on Saturday.

What's next

Bruins: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, SN360, RDS, NHL.TV)
Red Wings:Visit the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-D, NHL.TV)