BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins seriously brightened their playoff picture Thursday night.

Coming off back-to-back losses that left their postseason chances very much in doubt, the Bruins scored twice in the first 2:44, then added two more in the first 45 seconds of the third period in an impressive 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

The victory, Boston's third in 11 games, doesn't wrap up a playoff spot for the Bruins, but it does set up a final weekend of the regular season. Boston (42-30-9) is attempting to earn either third place in the Atlantic Division or the Eastern Conference's second wild card.

The Bruins, who host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, are tied with Detroit (41-29-11) but trail in the tiebreaker. Both teams have 93 points with one game remaining.

The Philadelphia Flyers had 91 points heading into their Thursday night game against the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs.

Philadelphia has two games left and still could steal the wild card.

The Red Wings, meanwhile, were denied clinching their 25th straight trip to the playoffs, which they can take care of with a win over the Rangers in New York on Saturday.

Boston defenseman Torey Krug ended a 54-game goal-scoring drought with his first goal since Dec. 5, and he dished out two assists. Brad Marchand and David Krejci also had two points in the win -- Marchand scoring his 37th goal of the season minutes after receiving the fans' Seventh Player Award given to the player who most exceeds expectations.

David Pastrnak, who opened the scoring before Marchand made it 2-0, Lee Stempniak and Loui Eriksson also scored for the Bruins, who chased Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard from the net when Eriksson made it 5-1 with his 30th goal of the season early in the third period.

Defenseman Alexey Marchenko got the Wings to within 3-1 with a second-period goal, and Marchenko got an assist on Andreas Athanasiou's goal with 1:23 left -- on Detroit's 15th and final shot on Tuukka Rask.

The TD Garden crowd, minus the ones wearing Red Wings shirts, broke into a "We Want Playoffs" chant midway through the third period.

It was after the chant that a pair of Red Wings fans made their way down to the glass in separate charges and threw octopi on the ice -- a tradition in Detroit.

In the second minute of the game, Jon-Michael Liles threw the puck off the boards where it was gathered in by Pastrnak, who got past defenseman Mike Green. Pastrnak went in alone and beat Howard on a back-hander at 1:25. Howard was coming off a 30-save shutout over the Flyers on Wednesday.

Krug picked up his fifth assist in the last four games when he moved in from the left point, got the puck off the boards and found Marchand for a one-timer at 2:44 -- Krug's 39th assist of the season.

Just like that it was 2-0, but the Red Wings stuck to their plan and played well for the rest of the period with both teams killing off two penalties.

The Bruins killed off another early in the second period and came through with a power play goal on Krug's slapper. Krug, a native of suburban Detroit who had 10 shots on goal Sunday in Chicago, looked up at the sky after finally scoring -- and his brother, Zak, tweeted: "THE SLUMP IS OVERRRRRR."

It was only the second power-play goal against the Red Wings in the last six games.

The Red Wings got one back when Marchenko threw one at the net from a bad angle and the puck hit Marchand's skate and went in for Marchenko's second goal of the season, his first since Jan. 11.

NOTES: LW Brad Marchand captured his second Bruins' Seventh Player Award, voted by the fans to the Boston player who exceeds expectations. Marchand, who entered the game with a career-high 36 goals, previously won the 2010-11 award as a rookie. ... The Red Wings were trying to tie the St. Louis Blues (1980-2004) for third place on the NHL's all-time playoff streak list at 25. The Bruins (1968-96) hold the record of 29, followed by the Chicago Blackhawks with 28 (1970-97). ... F Max Talbot was an emergency recall by the Bruins on Wednesday and was in the lineup for the 37th time this season, while RW Jimmy Hayes was out with an undisclosed injury suffered in Tuesday night's game. ... The Bruins' 6-5 loss at Detroit Feb. 14 ended Boston's six-game winning streak in the series.