DETROIT — The clock rolled ahead by an hour overnight Saturday, and the Bruins arrived for a Sunday matinee with their watches, minds. and legs all standing still, adding up to a 5-3 loss to the Red Wings less than 24 hours after the Black and Gold officially clinched a berth in the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Red Wings, 3-2 losers on Causeway Street on Saturday afternoon, ran off to a 4-0 lead by late in the second period, then withstood a late Bruins pushback that included a David Pastrnak goal (No. 46) that pulled the visitors to within a goal, 4-3, with 13:36 remaining in regulation.
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But that’s where Sisyphus ran out of steam for the Bruins, who saw their special teams picked apart for two power-play goals, along with the second Red Wings shorthander in just over 24 hours. Andrew Copp then slid home an empty-netter with 24 ticks to go, dropping the Bruins’ league-leading record to 50-10-5.
“Nice to see us have a push, make a game of it,” said Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, who helped spark the offensive with second- and third-period line juggling. “But it was too little, too late.”
Montgomery did not buy the idea that fatigue, be it mental or physical, was a reason for his club’s slow, listless start in Little Caesars Arena.
“Shouldn’t be,” he noted. “They had a lot of jump in their legs and beat us to every loose puck, so, you know … and we found it in the third.”
Indeed they did, eventually.
“Eventually…” he agreed. “Key word there.”
Ex-BU forward Alex Chiasson provided the 1-0 lead on a power play midway through the first, followed by a Moritz Seider shorty for the 2-0 advantage early in the second. Seider picked Pastrnak’s pocket at the Red Wing defensive blue line, put on the jets, and finished with a doorstep backhand lift on Jeremy Swayman, with Pastrnak chasing in his vapor trail.
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Nothing pokes a team in the eyes like giving up a shorty. Poised to even it, 1-1, the Bruins for a second day in a row watched their boo-boo blow up big time. Pastrnak coughed up the puck after receiving a feed from Brad Marchand that he found difficult to handle. In a blink, Seider was barreling up the right side.
“It was a poor decision,” Montgomery noted, referring to Pastrnak. “You know, we want that puck to go to the goal line when we don’t have a play and don’t have time on the entry.”
Dylan Larkin and Adam Erne each struck, bumping the lead to 4-0, before Matt Grzelcyk finally solved goalie Ville Husso with 3:08 left in the second. The Wings took the 4-1 lead into the break, the first time the Bruins trailed at the 40:00 mark since Feb. 14 in Dallas.
Some of Montgomery’s reworking of the lines included pulling Jake DeBrusk off the No. 1 line and moving newcomer Tyler Bertuzzi, the ex-Red Wing, to the top trio with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. DeBrusk, riding with Charlie Coyle a number of times as his pivot, potted his 20th this season to cut it to 4-2 early in the third.
Pastrnak, second only to Edmonton’s Connor McDavid in goal scoring, made it 4-3 less than three minutes later.
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DeBrusk’s game showed some energy after the move, which could foreshadow his working with Coyle and Trent Frederic Tuesday night in Chicago. Not to be determined until the day-of-game skate at the United Center.
“I felt like I was struggling a little bit there,” said DeBrusk, focusing on his play before the change in line combos. “More so in battles…just things on the forecheck and certain reads — felt like we were off as a line, myself included obviously. One of those things, you never want to get off that line, but at the same time, I knew Charlie and Freddy were playing well together. So it was kind of, let’s give it a push and see what can happen.”
It was the Bruins’ second game in as many days. Only a month remains in the regular season. A playoff spot is in the bin, only the seeding TBA. Any of it could have been a factor in their overall lack of snap, crackle, and pop.
“I think you could put any excuses you want in there,” said DeBrusk. “We just weren’t good enough. I think it’s one of those things, obviously, playing Detroit [Saturday] ... I think the details of our defensive zone game … we were getting in some track meets and we don’t usually do that.”
Swayman (16-6-4) gave up four goals on 25 shots and, following his loss Thursday to the Oilers, suffered his first back-to-back losses of the season. He had won five in a row. Montgomery said he did not consider giving him the hook after 40:00, what could have been a move to attempt a kick-start.
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“I didn’t think goaltending was the issue,” noted Montgomery. “I thought our lack of … we gave up a lot of odd-man rushes, breakaways … I think he stopped two or three breakaways in the third.”
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.