(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

By Mike Cratty | Follow me on Twitter @Mike_Cratty

Home: Boston Bruins: 40-15-8, 88 points, second in the Atlantic Division

Away: Detroit Red Wings: 26-29-10, 62 points, fifth in the Atlantic Division

Boston’s Lineup

Forwards

Marchand-Riley Nash-Pastrnak

DeBrusk-Krejci-Rick Nash

Heinen-Backes-Gionta

Schaller-Kuraly-Wingels

Defense

Chara-Carlo

Krug-Holden

Grzelcyk-Miller

Goalies

Khudobin

Rask

Detroit’s Lineup

Forwards

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Nyquist

Abdelkader-Larkin-Mantha

Athanasiou-Nielsen-Helm

Witkowski-Glendening-Frk

Defense

Ericsson-Daley

DeKeyser-Jensen

Kronwall-Green

Goalies

Coreau

Howard

The Bruins sported some nice St. Patrick’s Day themed warm-ups before things got interesting early.

(Via @NHLBruins on Twitter)

First Period

When I say things got interesting early, I mean it. Two goals in the 52 seconds from Torey Krug’s 12th and Jake DeBrusk’s 14th goals set the tone for a high scoring game. Frans Nielsen quickly spoiled the fun early in their power play, 2:16 into the game after Tommy Wingels went to the box for slashing. Mike Green then tied it up with 12:07 remaining in the first on what ended up being a weak goal on Khudobin’s part. Fours in less than eight minutes of action, not something you see every day.

Here’s Torey Krug’s best attempt at emulating one of his former teammates Johnny Boychuk’s “Johnny Rockets., ”

(Via @NHL on Twitter)

Charlie McAvoy’s MCL injury and Nick Holden’s impressive start to his Bruins career earned him a spot in the top-four with Torey Krug on the second defensive pairing.

With just under 7:00 remaining in the first, Nick Jensen went to the box for Detroit on a holding call, which allowed Torey Krug to notch his 13th goal of the season and second of the game on the power play, set up on a beautiful pass through the slot from Brad Marchand.

Some stunning puck work displayed here.

(Via @mkmolnar on Twitter)

Danton Heinen almost made it 4-2 about a minute later but hit the post. The Bruins threw plenty of shots at Jared Coreau early. Henrik Zetterberg then came in and nearly squeaked one between Anton Khudobin and the left post. It was just a wild start to the first period within the first 15 minutes.

The period concluded with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak nearly adding a late goal on a give-and-go. Frans Nielsen left the ice after a hit away from the play on David Backes that put Backes in the box for roughing.

Score: 3-2 Boston

Second Period

Detroit started the period with 1:50 of power play time on the David Backes roughing penalty. Anton Khudobin faced zero shots while down a man and the penalty was killed by the Bruins.

With 17:48 remaining in the period, defenseman turned forward Luke Witkowski took a stupid crosschecking penalty on Torey Krug, handing the Bruins a two-minute man advantage. Torey Krug then returns the favor to Brad Marchand with a back-door one-timer, too easy. The Bruins take a 4-2 lead on the power play goal with 16:33 to go in the second. Jared Coreau then got the boot from the Detroit crease, Jimmy Howard came in to replace him. The goal marked Marchand’s 26th goal of the year and man, what a beautiful sequence it was.

(Via @NHLonNBCSports on Twitter)

Jonathan Ericsson and David Backes exchanged words early in the period, which then lead to a fight between the two with 15:15 to go in the period. Spoiler alert: Backes won.

(Via @Tashville401 on Twitter)

Detroit went on the penalty kill again with 13:45 remaining when Mike Green went to the box cross-checking. On the kill, Detroit got a chance from Justin Abdelkader, who after watching the instant replay, clearly kicked the puck in. No goal.

(Via @CBeswick on Twitter)

Yes, Colin, it was a distinct kicking motion. The Bruins failed to score on the power play.

Brandon Carlo then took a dumb interference penalty with 9:57 to go and a two-goal lead. Anthony Mantha nearly put in a rebound past a scrambling Anton Khudobin, but Khudobin sprawled and stopped it with his left arm. Shortly after, Mike Green ripped a slap shot that hit off of David Krejci’s stick and Nick Holden’s hand was picked up by Anthony Mantha for Detroit’s third goal of the game with 7:55 remaining. Khudobin couldn’t reset in time to make the save.

Brad Marchand rained on Detroit’s parade with 6:42 remaining after a few chances that lead to the puck bouncing off the board behind Jimmy Howard. Marchand then banked the puck off of Howard’s left skate and into the net, 5-3 Bruins on a fluky one, his 27th of the season and second of the game. He wasn’t done there, as he laid out Gustav Nyquist at center ice not too long after.

Andreas Athanasiou, a highly dangerous breakaway player, found space late for a breakaway and was robbed by Khudobin. The next breakaway? Zdeno Chara mishandles the puck, it’s picked up by Tyler Bertuzzi and put in on the backhand for Bertuzzi’s 3rd of the season with 4:10 left.

A skirmish late following a low Brad Marchand hit lead to a 4-on-4 with Riley Nash and Justin Abdelkader heading to the box as a result. Brandon Carlo went at it with Trevor Daley a little over a minute into the 4-on-4, Brian Gionta joined in. Not shortage of nastiness in this game.

David Pastrnak had three assists through two periods, by the way.

An interesting thing to note from Kevin Paul Dupont here.

(Via @GlobeKPD on Twitter)

Score: 5-4 Boston

Third Period

Brad Marchand takes a slashing penalty five seconds into the period, five seconds. That’s impressive. The penalty was killed successfully by the Bruins.

With 15:22 left, Luke Witkowski went to the box again, this time for roughing. Detroit killed it off. The penalties continued when Sean Kuraly went to the box for tripping Dylan Larkin with 12:19 left. Not much going on besides penalties early in the third period.

Five seconds after the conclusion of the Sean Kuraly tripping penalty, Tyler Bertuzzi finds Martin Frk open out front to tie the game. It was a weird goal, hitting off David Krejci in a shot block attempt and getting a little bit of spin on it, which tripped up Anton Khudobin and was the driving force behind the goal.

Many people were not fans of the referee’s performances tonight, including Billy Jaffe.

(Via @BJaffe on Twitter)

Back-and-forth chances followed for the longevity of the period. Nothing too crazy, but some consistent action making for an exciting finish. We’re on to overtime

Score: 5-5

Overtime

Brad Marchand scored in overtime, for the 11th time in his career. Shocker. Third career hat trick, 28th goal of the season. Most overtime goals in Bruins history for the NHL’s greatest pest. Five points on the night. Brad Marchand loves playing the Wings. Game over.

(Via @PeteBlackburn on Twitter)

It was a wild, at times a frustrating game, but the Bruins came out with two points in the end. Not all wins are pretty.

Final Score: 6-5 Boston (OT)