Bruins better dead then red - and better than the Red alive, too

After two self-described "pathetisad" performances, the Boston Bruins landed at DTW for their trip to Joe Louis Arena with heavy hearts, but soft hands.

Somewhere between Calgary and Detroit, though, the talent returned to the Bruins' sticks and the ice was alive with sounds of solid performances that night. The Red Wings, who entered the game outscoring their opponents at more than a three-to-two margin, found themselves on the short end of the scoreboard by the end of the day.

The first period, which was amazingly quiet - in terms of action and crowd activity - saw Martin Havlat score at 01:56 on Olaf Kolzig to set the pace for the evening. Andy McDonald notched the assist, his twenty-third of the season.

There was nearly thirty-five minutes of ice dancing after that goal, though, as neither team scored again until the fifteen minute mark of the second, and no penalties were whistled either. In face, the offensive flurry which was expected never materialized, as the two teams had near-season lows in terms of shots on goals.

The offensive freeze was broken in the second period when, of all people, Bruins' defenseman Matt Walker went wild and scored on Kolzig, again off a McDonald assist. It marked a victorious return for Walker, who was levelled in the first game of the season in Detroit and missed the next two months of the season. He has been sidelined for most games since then in an effort to not mess with the chemistry of a winning team. Of course, three minutes later, Walker was sent to the box for an elbowing minor, completing his night.

In the third period, Chris "Not Dean" Kunitz got the best of stopgap goalie John Grahame at 09:51, scoring his tenth of the season and closing the goal chasm to a 2-1 Boston lead. The Boston faithful watched from home on NBC, sweating out the close game.

With five and a half to play, it was like fairy dust had been sprinkled on the Boston sticks. Peter Sykora scored at 14:36, then notched a short handed goal at 16:41 after a Richard Jackman boarding misconduct. At 18:33, Jochan Hecht took over and decided to kick the Red Wings for good measure, taking a Keith Tkachuk and Tim Connolley combo glove side for the power play goal. Forty seconds later, he added his twentieth of the season on an unassisted breakaway past Steve Shields, claiming a firm clamp on the team lead for the season, four up on Bill Guerin.

Hecht claimed the Molson Top Game Star, and was joined in the Bruins' sweep of the category by John Grahame and Andy McDonald. The Bruins returned to breakeven hockey at 19-19-3 with the win, but now sit five points back of division leading Toronto for the Adams Division crown.

Boston will now travel home to host the Carolina Hurricanes, a team which has also experienced a cooling off since earlier in the season.