DETROIT - After big wins over two of the NHL's top teams, Jeff Blashill was hoping for more good things Wednesday night at Joe Louis Arena.

Instead, the Detroit Red Wings came out and played one of their worst periods of the season, getting dominated by the Boston Bruins in every phase of the game en route to a three-goal deficit.

Blashill wasn't happy and he let the Red Wings know it during the first intermission.

The Red Wings coach laid into his players, sparing no feelings while expressing his displeasure. The harsh words hit their mark as the Red Wings came out and scored three goals in the second period to tie it before sending the game into overtime and winning a wild 6-5 shootout.

Blashill wouldn't get into specifics as to what was said but the players confirmed he was angry.

"Win battles, I mean just win battles," was Blashill's intermission message. "I thought we got out-battled all over the ice. I thought we needed to skate and win battles, that's it. One-hundred percent win battles and I thought we came out in the second and won skating races and skating battles and puck battles.

"It's a great group. We got tons of pride in this room. We got tons of character in this room. Nobody's perfect in their life every day. Just the reality of life. I've read some of your guys' articles. Some of them are really good and some of them aren't.

"Our first period wasn't really good and my job is to make sure I let them know. But again we came out and did a real good job in the second."

Did they ever.

After falling behind 4-1 through 20 minutes, the Red Wings controlled most of the middle period, holding the Bruins to four shots and tying it 4-4 on goals by Xavier Ouellet, Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Tatar.

Although the Bruins regained the lead just 21 seconds after Tatar tied it, the Red Wings gave themselves a chance to extend their winning streak to three games heading into the third period.

They tied it 5-5 on Gustav Nyquist's deflection with 3:04 left and then won it after Thomas Vanek and Frans Nielsen scored in the shootout, when Petr Mrazek stopped two of the Bruins' three shooters.

"They scored four in 20 minutes so we knew that we could do it in 40," said Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg. "We just have to go out and start playing, start winning battles. Basically win your shift. We know it's been crazy scores in the league lately.

"It was a nice comeback. Almost have to apologize for the first. I don't know what to call that after the two games we had, to come in like that. But we found a way to battle ourselves back into this one. We knew if we started playing we still had a chance.

"It was nice to see Petr save that last shootout attempt."

The first period couldn't have been much for the Red Wings.

The Bruins scored on its second shot 44 seconds into the game, made it 2-0 on their fourth shot and sent Red Wings goalie Jared Coreau to the bench by scoring again on their seventh shot.

Boston outshot the Red Wings 19-7 while scoring twice on the power play and once while short-handed in the first period.

Is it any wonder Blashill was angry?

"There was some words said there but I mean, you just can't look like that," said Nyquist, who was surrounded by four Bruins when he tied it. "We talked about it. We know it's a huge game going in.

"It's a team we're chasing and we want to be in the playoffs and we come in down 4-1 at home. That can't happen."

Dylan Larkin scored Detroit's first-period goal before Xavier Ouellet, Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Tatar tallied to tie it 4-4 with 5:24 left in the second. But the Bruins answered Adam McQuaid answered just 21 seconds after Tatar's goal to put Boston back on top heading to the third.

"We didn't start on time, that's for sure," said Tatar, who also had two assists. "We've been talking about it a lot. If you want to be in the playoff race, you need to play 60 minutes, not 40.

"We battled through, we end up tying the game, they score again but we are really happy for two points after a start like that. It was a battle but we are really happy now."

Mrazek, who has been struggling for much of the season, stopped 23 of 25 shots to snap a personal six-game losing streak and raise his record to 10-11-4.

The three-game winning streak is the Red Wings' longest since they won six straight in mid-October and it moved them back over the .500 mark at 20-19-6.

They also pulled within four points of third-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division and six points of second-place Boston, which fell to 23-19-6 after losing for the third time in four games.

"We collapsed," said Bruins coach Claude Julien, who is reportedly on the hot seat after missing the playoffs the past two seasons. "That was pretty obvious. It was just one of those games. We didn't get the save when we needed it, we made some mistakes that gave them chances.

"A lot of things went wrong tonight after we took that lead. That's why I'm at a loss for words right now."