Gustavsson Leads Red Wings to 3-2 Win over Bruins

Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson made his first appearance of the season for the Red Wings on Monday, leading Detroit to a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins in a surprise start in the matinee matchup.

Jimmy Howard was scheduled to get the nod in the Detroit crease but the bruised hand he suffered in Saturday’s win over the Philadelphia Flyers was aggravated during pre-game warmups, leaving Gustavsson to take over and stop 28 of the 30 shots he faced.

Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg opened the game’s scoring with 8:27 remaining in the first period. Pavel Datsyuk stole the puck in the neutral zone and broke into the Boston end, skating around Zdeno Chara before backhanding a cross-crease pass through two Bruins to Zetterberg, who hesitated just long enough to catch goalie Tuukka Rask going down before wristing a low-angle shot into the back of the net.

Loui Eriksson tied things up 2:39 later when Johnny Boychuk’s shot from the right wing boards deflected off of his leg and past Gustavsson.

The Red Wings regained the lead at 8:21 of the second period on a goal by Stephen Weiss. Johan Franzen raced into the Bruins’ zone down the left wing and controlled the puck, feeding Weiss on the right side of the slot for a quick wrister past Rask.

Just 2:20 later it was 3-1 when Daniel Alfredsson fed Daniel Cleary with a pass from behind the net to the front of the goal, where Cleary snapped a chance by Rask.

Milan Lucic made it close, scoring with 1:20 remaining in regulation and Rask on the bench for an extra attacker. The Bruins would be unable to even things up, however.

Boston was held scoreless on five power plays. Detroit did not have a chance with the man-advantage.

Rask faced 24 shots and made 27 saves.