Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Rapid Reaction: Bruins 4, Red Wings 1

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins played more of their typical, physical style of game and defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 in Game 2 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.

With the series now even at a game apiece, Games 3 and 4 will be played Tuesday and Thursday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Bruins forwards Justin Florek and Reilly Smith each scored his first Stanley Cup playoff goal, while Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara also tallied en route to victory. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask finished with 34 saves.

The Red Wings' Luke Glendening scored the lone goal for Detroit, while goaltender Jimmy Howard made 25 saves.

The Bruins took advantage of a Detroit miscue to gain a 1-0 lead at 7:28 of the first period. Howard came out to play the puck and attempted to move it to Brendan Smith, but the puck ricocheted off the defenseman's leg. Florek, who was in the right place at the right time, took a shot from the left faceoff circle and scored with Howard out of position. The goal came on Boston's first shot of the game and was its first goal of the series.

The Bruins finally had momentum and continued their strong forecheck, which resulted in Boston drawing a couple of penalties in the opening period. Boston took advantage and scored a power-play goal at 10:35 for a 2-0 lead.

Bruins forward Loui Eriksson did all the grunt work in front of Howard. As a scramble ensued, Eriksson took out three Detroit defenders, including Howard, as Smith crashed the net and pumped in the loose puck.

As well as the Bruins played in the first period, they had a bit of a hiccup in the second period and Detroit capitalized with its first goal of the game. The Red Wings gained control in the offensive zone when Detroit's Darren Helm skated around Boston's Jarome Iginla before taking a shot on net. Glendening, who was camped out in front of Rask, redirected the shot off his stick and glove for the tally at 13:20 of the second period to cut Detroit's deficit to 2-1.

Boston responded and finished the period better than it started it, regaining its two-goal lead when Lucic scored at 18:16. On the breakout, Bruins defenseman Torey Krug gained the neutral zone and showed patience with the puck before making a cross-ice pass to Lucic, who crossed the blue line and left a drop pass from Iginla. Lucic broke to the net as Iginla made the return pass. Howard got a stick on Lucic's shot, but the puck trickled in to give Boston a 3-1 lead.

The Bruins quickly added to their lead in the third period when Chara scored on the power play at 2:27. On their fourth power play of the game, the Bruins controlled the puck at the point as Chara was screening Howard. Iginla took a shot from the right faceoff circle and Howard made the initial save, but Chara pumped in the rebound through the 5-hole to give Boston a 4-1 lead.

With the game in hand for the Bruins, the 17,565 in attendance began to chant, "We want the Cup. We want the Cup. We want the Cup."

There's a long way to go before that happens.

Special teams: Entering this series, it was expected to be a disciplined matchup. Game 1 featured a total of three power plays between the teams, but Game 2 was a bit different and it went in Boston's favor. The Bruins went 2-for-4 on the power play, while they were a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

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