DETROIT — As Nikita Zadorov barreled down the wing in front of the Bruins bench midway through the third period, his teammates had just one message.
One loud message.
“I think the whole bench was like, ‘Shoot!’,” said coach Marco Sturm. “And he actually did it. So good for him. Obviously, it was a big goal, but a good character win to get it done in the way we got it done in the third.”
Zadorov’s second goal of the season — and the big defenseman’s first since the fifth game of the campaign — proved to be the winner as Boston pinned a 4-2 loss on the Red Wings Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The victory gave the Bruins some precious breathing room in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
After falling behind, 2-1, early in the third, Boston got an equalizer from Elias Lindholm, the winner from Zadorov, and an insurance empty netter from Marat Khusnutdinov to improve to 39-23-8 with 86 points, 2 points clear of Detroit (38-24-8).
The clubs are 1-2, respectively in the wild-card race.
“I feel like their D had a bad gap,” said Zadorov, recalling his winning strike. “So, just trying to kind of hide my shot in between them.”
Zadorov beat Red Wings goalie John Gibson blocker side.
“I’ve been shooting high glove for a while now,” said Zadorov. “I decided to go blocker, and it went in.”
After Alex DeBrincat gave Detroit a 2-1 lead, the Bruins — and Jeremy Swayman — battened down the hatches.
Lindholm tied with his 13th. After Mason Lohrei did a nice job keeping the puck in the zone, he fed Morgan Geekie (three assists), who dished to Lindholm, who beat Gibson five hole.
“It’s always fun to score,” said Lindholm, who snapped a seven-game goalless string. “Obviously, it was a little uncertain whether it was offsides or not. So, it was tough to sell you or be happy about it before it was confirmed. But it was good. It was [an] important goal for us.”
Lukas Reichel had a chance to make it 4-2 when he was awarded a penalty shot, but Gibson turned him aside.
As he’s been most of the season, Swayman was masterful, making 41 saves, including 21 in the third period.
The action was fast and furious across the first 20 minutes — just as would be expected between two teams who entered with the same record and virtually tied in the playoff chase.
The Bruins landed the first big hit, with Charlie McAvoy thumping DeBrincat just inside the blue line and just as an offside whistle was blown.
DeBrincat coincidentally would land the first scoring chance, but his slapper from the right circle clanged off Swayman’s far post.
Boston earned the first power play when Mason Appleton caught Zadorov with a stick to the chops.
The Bruins power play, just 1 for its last 18 coming in, wasn’t able to convert (though Elias Lindholm hit a post), but showed good movement and signs of life.
Fraser Minten, who seems to be getting better by the period, had a dandy opportunity, ripping one from the slot off a Mason Lohrei feed, but Gibson just got a blocker on it before falling on the rebound in the crease.
Boston’s best chance came while it was shorthanded (Mark Kastelic for tripping) and again it came off the stick of Minten.
Minten picked off a pass at his own blue line, turned on the jets, faked Justin Faulk out his Bauers, and lifted a backhander toward a sprawling Gibson, who just got a glove on it.
The Red Wings went on the power play again (a questionable hooking call on Casey Mittelstadt — just his fourth minor of the season — and though they got the puck past Swayman, it didn’t count.
J.T. Compher swatted a backhander out of the air, and it hit the back of the net as the first-period siren sounded. Upon further review, however, the clock was at 0.0 when it crossed the line and was disallowed, sending the teams to their locker rooms scoreless.
The Bruins killed the 57 carryover seconds on the Mittelstadt call to start the second, with Moritz Seider’s crossbar ding the only Detroit threat.
Detroit went back on the power play when Hampus Lindholm caught Emmitt Finnie with a high stick and this time the home team cashed in.
Patrick Kane, who at 37 is still as slick as ever, fed Andrew Coop down low, and with his back to Swayman, Coop slipped across the crease to Lucas Raymond who slammed it into the open for his 22nd on the season.
The Bruins tied with a power-play goal of their own.
With David Perron (interference) and Seider (delay of game) in the box, the Bruins got a brief 5-on-3 advantage.
Brief because David Pastrnak converted just 20 seconds in.
Standing in the left wing circle, Pastrnak one-timed a laser over Gibson’s blocker off the post and in.
Pastrnak nearly had another moments later, but his bid trickled just wide after Gibson got a small piece.
Swayman made several sterling stops to keep it tied after two periods — his best a blocker stop on Finnie who had blistered one from the slot.
“Yeah, there’s no quitting in this team,” said Lindholm. “I think obviously we’ve been down in the third period a couple times lately and we just stay with it and keep playing the same way and seem to find a couple different ways to win.”
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.