DeBrincat, Red Wings hand Bruins 2nd regulation loss this season

BOSTON -- Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher each had a goal and an assist for the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-2 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Friday.

Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists, and Ville Husso made 25 saves for Detroit (10-6-3), which has won two straight since returning from the 2023 NHL Global Series Sweden last week.

"We are a good team. If we bring it every night, every day, we can beat any team in this league," Husso said. "The last two games, I feel like we've been outstanding defensively and got two big wins, so we just got to keep building and moving forward."

Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for Boston (14-2-3), which had its seven-game point streak end (5-0-2).

"They played fast, we didn't," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "The execution on the forecheck, the execution in the neutral zone; the only part of our game that I thought was good was our breakouts. Power play wasn't good (1-for-3), penalty kill wasn't good (4-for-6). You're not going to win a lot of hockey games when that's the case."

Each of the Bruins' two regulation losses this season have come against the Red Wings, who won 5-4 in Detroit on Nov. 4.

"It's a big feat," Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. "It's pretty amazing what these guys have been able to do early in the season again, and we've [defeated] them twice now, and I think this is a big one for us. Winning in this building, and an emotional game."

Compher gave Detroit a 1-0 lead at 5:13 of the first period on the power play, tipping in Gostisbehere's point shot.

DeBrincat made it 2-0 at 15:01, stripping the puck from Bruins forward Matthew Poitras at Boston's blue line and skating in on a breakaway.

DeBrusk cut it to 2-1 at 3:00 of the second period with a power-play goal, scoring on a rebound in front. He has goals in back-to-back games after having one in his first 16 this season.

"It's always good to see it go in," DeBrusk said. "You want to do it in a winning manner, though, which obviously didn't happen. It's been hard to get those in the net this year, so it's nice to have back-to-back [goals], personally."

Robby Fabbri extended the lead to 3-1 at 13:24 with a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a cross-ice feed from Daniel Sprong.

Heinen cut it to 3-2 at 4:12 of the third period. Mason Lohrei sent the puck off the end boards, and it rebounded to Heinen for the goal

Larkin pushed it to 4-2 with a power-play goal 55 seconds later at 5:08.

Detroit went 2-for-6 on the power play against Boston's League-best penalty kill (91.0 percent entering Friday), and Fabbri's goal was scored shortly after a penalty expired on another chance. Boston has allowed two power-play goals in two games this season, each against Detroit.

"I really thought the group did a good job of digging in after that [Heinen's goal]," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "And again, the momentum the power play can get you when it's clicking."

David Perron scored an empty-net goal at 18:15 for the 5-2 final.

"We didn't give them a lot of 5-on-5 (chances)," Red Wings forward Andrew Copp said. "Special teams were good, power play came up huge tonight, so I think we know anytime playing these guys is going to be a huge challenge, so good to see us rise up to that challenge."

NOTES: Husso made his first start since returning from paternity leave. He had not played since Detroit's 5-4 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 11. … Morgan Geekie returned for Boston after missing six games with an upper-body injury. He had no shots on goal in 15:02 of ice time. … Bruins forward David Pastrnak had an assist to reach 30 points this season (12 goals, 18 assists in 19 games), hitting that total in 20 games or fewer for the third time in his career. He joined Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (four each), and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos (three) as the fifth active player to reach 30 points in 20 games or fewer on three or more occasions.