DETROIT _ Frans Nielsen's night ended with a hit. Jared Coreau's night ended with a hook. The Detroit Red Wings' night? It ended with another heartbreak in overtime.
What began as a farce segued into a fighting chance for the Red Wings on Tuesday at TD Garden, before they lost, 6-5, to the Boston Bruins when Brad Marchand completed a hat trick 34 seconds into overtime, slipping the puck past Jimmy Howard.
The Wings, for a change, found ways to score (they'd scored a combined five goals over the previous three games). They scored on their first power play, two seconds after the third one had expired, and five seconds after the fifth one had expired. Anthony Mantha had two goals and two assists. Dylan Larkin shot the puck at every opportunity, Tyler Bertuzzi was physical and had two assists.
Coreau spoke with eagerness in the morning as he anticipated his first start of the season with the Wings.
It couldn't have gone much worse.
Torey Krug scored 37 seconds into the game and Jake DeBrusk followed up 15 seconds later when his pass attempt ended up going in off Jonathan Ericsson. It was so bad a start that when Coreau saved the Bruins' third shot on net, an attempt by Backes, fans gave Coreau a Bronx cheer.
