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Bruins edge Wings in shootout

Center David Krejci and right winger Reilly Smith scored in the shootout to give the Boston Bruins a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night at Joe Louis Arena.

DETROIT -- The Boston Bruins were happy with any kind of victory.

Center David Krejci and right winger Reilly Smith scored in a shootout to give the Bruins a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night at Joe Louis Arena, snapping Boston's three-game losing streak.

"It's huge," Smith said about breaking the skid. "It's tough. You try not to think about it, but it's always in the back of your mind."

Krejci and Smith also scored for Boston (2-3-0) in regulation, while goaltender Tuukka Rask made 18 saves in regulation and the overtime period.

"A real tough win, but a win we deserved," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Probably the best game we've played to this point."

Wingers Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist scored for Detroit, while goalie Jimmy Howard stopped 37 of 39 shots in regulation and overtime.

"He was phenomenal," Nyquist said about Howard. "He was the one that kept us in the game and saved a point for us there. And all the way throughout the game, he was our best player, I thought."

Nyquist's power-play goal 2:56 into the third period tied the game at 2. Nyquist beat Rask with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle for his third goal in three games this season.

"In a game like this, it's a tough loss," Nyquist said. "Obviously, it's nice to score goals, I guess, but at the same time, we want to win games. That's most important. We didn't do that tonight, so it wasn't good enough."

His power-play goal came with Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid in the penalty box for interference, a call that the Bruins argued.

"The first three games when they scored, we were getting down and deflated," Boston left winger Milan Lucic said. "Here today, we didn't let anything bother us. It didn't matter that they tied it up on a bad call. We just went out there and gave ourselves the best chance to win."

Smith gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead with 6:29 left in the second period when he put in a rebound from the front of the net. It was Smith's second goal.

"Funny," Smith said. "That's exactly what we were doing in practice the last couple of days: getting a dirty goal."

The game was tied 1-1 after the first period despite Boston outshooting Detroit 14-4.

"We came out ready and really skated hard and made some sweet passes," Rask said.

Krejci opened the scoring 5:12 into the game when he raced around Red Wings defenseman Jakub Kindl for a breakaway and beat Howard with a forehand shot after a couple of moves. It was Krejci's first goal of the season.

Tatar tied the game 3:28 later when he picked up a loose puck at the bottom of the right circle and snapped a shot past Rask under the crossbar for his first goal of the season.

Boston travels to play the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener at Bell Centre on Thursday.

"It was good to get that win," Lucic said. "We just have to keep it going."

NOTES: Boston assistant coach Doug Houda, who played with the Red Wings during his NHL career, was hit in the head by an errant puck 6:39 into the second period. He was cut and was bleeding. He got stitched up and returned behind the bench with a little less than 10 minutes left in the middle period. ... Boston LW Simon Gagne played his first game with the team after signing a one-year contract for $600,000 on Tuesday. He went to training camp on a tryout with the team after not playing last season. It was the 800th career game for the 34-year-old, who is in his 14th season. ... Boston RW Reilly Smith and Detroit D Brendan Smith are brothers. ... Bruins D Torey Krug is from the Detroit suburb of Livonia and played at Michigan State. ... RW Gustav Nyquist, with a goal in each of the Red Wings' first two games, moved up to the first line with C Henrik Zetterberg and RW Johan Franzen. Nyquist replaced Justin Abdelkader, who went to left wing on the third line with C Darren Helm and RW Andrej Nestrasil.