Those matchups showed the Bruins just how far they were from their goal, but Boston applied the lessons learned on that bitter weekend during their run to the Stanley Cup last spring.
When the Original Six rivals clashed again on Friday afternoon, the roles had been reversed. The Bruins were now the reigning champs, riding high with a 10-game win streak. The Red Wings were able to snap that run with a 3-2 win in a shootout, but they came away impressed with how far the Bruins have come.
"They're good," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "They've got good players. Bergy [Patrice Bergeron]'s line there with [Tyler] Seguin and [Brad] Marchand is a real good line. And obviously [David] Krejci with his two big studs [Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic] on the sides is a real good line. So they've got good depth right through and [Gregory] Campbell's group is a real effective fourth line. They're a good team.
"Last year when we played them they didn't have [Chris] Kelly and [Rich] Peverley, and so that gives them a third line now," Babcock added of last year's key trade deadline pickups. "And Peverley, for me, is a top-notch third-line guy, because his skill set is so good. So they've got good depth and they've got good depth in goal, so you can play [Tuukka] Rask in this game and not force you to wear out [Tim] Thomas. I like how they play. Claude [Julien]'s a good coach, obviously. You don't win the Stanley Cup by accident. So they're a good team."
The Red Wings still aren't exactly slouches themselves. The Bruins had the better of the play for most of the game on Friday, but Detroit found a way to weather the storm and escape with the extra point despite being outshot 43-31.
"I thought we were the better team out there and it's unfortunate," Julien said. "Sometimes those games get decided by individuals and that's what happened tonight. Having said that, we've won some games lately that maybe we didn't necessarily deserve. We found ways to win and that's what they did tonight. They found a way to win."
That win came in the shootout, the ultimate display of individual skill. The Bruins' success is based on their sound teamwork and chemistry, which isn't exactly rewarded when it comes to a gimmicky skills competition like the shootout.
"We really felt confident about winning this game," Julien said. "Unfortunately the one thing you don't want to do against that team is get into a shootout. You've got to respect that part of their roster. Even had Tuukka stopped that last one [by Todd Bertuzzi], they had a lot more guys to come that are pretty dangerous that hadn't been out there yet. That's the part that you've got to respect from their team and unfortunately we got to the stage where it was decided by individuals."
The Red Wings don't just rely on individual skill, however. Their nucleus has been together for years and their cohesiveness is one of the things that makes them so difficult to play against regardless of the situation.
"They're a smart team," Bruins forward Daniel Paille said. "They read each other well. They don't even have to look where they are and they know where they have to be to support each other. The key for us is just to stay one step ahead of them."
The Bruins were just that on both of their goals. The first was scored by Paille after Horton stole the puck behind the Detroit net. Boston tied it again in the third on another opportunistic tally, with Bergeron firing in a shot after Henrik Zetterberg coughed up the puck in the left slot. Those goals came off Detroit mistakes, but those miscues were caused at least in part by the relentless pressure of the Bruins' forecheck.
"That's what helped us last year to move on in every series, we tired teams defensively and you saw a little bit of that today," Paille said. "We created some turnovers from them and it was good to see somewhat of our game tonight and hopefully we will see it again [Saturday against Winnipeg]."
While the Bruins used their deep corps of forwards to constantly harass the Red Wings into mistakes, the Boston defense had to show a little more caution against Detroit's high-powered attack.
"They did do a good job of spreading out the neutral zone, and their D are patient with the puck, and they can hold on to it and go back and forth, D to D," Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid said. "They're a patient team, and on the defensive side of that you have to be patient as well."
Boston's patience paid off when Bergeron tied it at 7:52 of the third, but despite a host of quality chances late in the third and in overtime, time finally ran out on the Bruins. They couldn't match Detroit's firepower in the shootout, and the win streak came to a close.
The Bruins were hardly hanging their heads, though. The win streak put them right back in the mix among the leaders in the Eastern Conference and their performance against the Red Wings was further proof that their game is back where they need it to be.
"Right now we're a confident team," Paille said. "We're showing it. We know that's a respectable team over there, but we wanted to put as much pressure on them as we can, so it's good to see us respond the way we did even though we didn't get a win."
