Boston Bruins' Daniel Paille, right, celebrates his second goal of the second period with teammate Max Talbot (25) during an NHL hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings in Boston, Sunday, March 8, 2015.Michael Dwyer/The Associated Press
Daniel Paille scored two goals, one coming short-handed, and Brad Marchand added a short-handed goal to lift the Boston Bruins to a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
Boston, which is clinging the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot, improved to 5-1-1 in its last seven games.
David Pastrnak and Loui Eriksson each had a power-play goal for Boston. Backup goalie Niklas Svedberg made 36 saves. Bruins top goaltender Tuukka Rask got the day off after playing 21 of 22 games.
Luke Glendening, Gustav Nyquist and Marek Zidlicky scored for the Red Wings, who have lost two straight after a three-game winning streak.
Detroit defenceman Stephen Weiss had the puck stolen from him twice, leading to both short-handed goals. Jonas Gustavsson stopped 19 shots before being lifted for Jimmy Howard after two periods.
Rookie Pastrnak put the Bruins ahead 2-1 midway into the first when he slipped a wrister by Gustavsson from a tough angle, deep near the left faceoff circle.
Paille's short-handed goal made it 3-1 at 11:44 of the second. He intercepted Weiss' pass at the blue line, beat two Red Wings' players down the middle of the ice and slipped a wrister into the net.
His other goal increased the lead to 4-1 with 1:21 to play in the second.
Marchand scored his third straight goal for Boston in less than 24 hours, making it 1-0 just 4:15 into the game. With Reilly Smith off for slashing, he stole the puck from Weiss, skated in on a clean breakaway and shifted Gustavsson out of position before tucking a forehand shot into the net.
The 5-foot-9 winger tipped in the tying goal with 14.1 seconds left in regulation of Saturday's 3-2 overtime win over Philadelphia. He then won it with a backhander late in OT.
Detroit tied it 1-1 when Nyquist slipped a wrister past Svedberg's glove from the slot 7:01 into the first.
Svedberg made a pair of key stops early in the second – diving out to poke the puck away from Erik Cole, who was skated in alone. He also flashed his right pad to rob Justin Abdelkader about 45 seconds later.
Glendening and Zidlicky sandwiched goals around Eriksson's in the third.