Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

BOSTON -- The second goal in as many games wasn't nearly as uplifting, but again it was Andreas Athanasiou making the most of an opportunity.

He scored the last goal as the Detroit Red Wings were routed, 5-2, Thursday by the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Athanasiou played nearly 13 minutes, higher than his average, reflecting that the game was over after the Bruins made it 5-1 a minute into the third period.

It was a cheerier story when Athanasiou scored his eighth goal of the season Wednesday in the 3-0 victory over Philadelphia. After Athanasiou scored on one of two shifts in the second period, Henrik Zetterberg said that, "it's going to be interesting to see when he plays 18 minutes."

Athanasiou played less than 6 minutes against the Flyers. He averages in the nine-minute range.

When this was put before coach Jeff Blashill on Thursday, it was greeted with a smile.

"Did Henrik say he wanted to take away from his minutes?" Blashill said. "No? Just wanted to check.

"You know, AA has had a variance of minutes at different times. He's our fifth penalty killer, so when our main four penalty killers goes in the box, then he gets the opportunity to kill. One thing he is in the penalty kill is a threat to score."

Athanasiou scored against the Flyers when he took off on a breakaway and went forehand-backhand-forehand, leaving his defender breathless.

"If you watch the replay, you can see he's not even moving his feet anymore and the guy is skating as hard as he can trying to catch him," linemate Luke Glendening said. "He's got special speed, got special talent. He'll be unbelievable here."

Part of his appeal for Blashill is how Athanasiou can make things happen so quickly.

"He's one of the rare players that can make an impact without playing many minutes, and there's not many players like that," Blashill said. "But he's got that lightning speed that when he does get those type of opportunities, he can really did a good job."

Playing such limited minutes is why Athanasiou, 21, hits the ice whenever a whistle allows.

"I've just got to get moving on the bench," he said. "Every TV time-out, I get on the ice and get a little skate in. Just got to make sure my mental part of the game, stick with it. And when you get those little minutes, you have to be ready whenever you get the call.

"It's tough to help produce, but I'm making the most of it."

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Check out our Red Wings Xtra app on Apple and Android!

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