As the Bruins returned home two weeks ago to kick off a season high five-game home stand, the Bruins knew they needed these five games on TD Garden ice to get themselves back on track as they were really struggling to put wins together.
Entering their game with old friend Tyler Seguin and the Dallas Stars which kicked off their homestand, the Bruins were losers of three of four. The Bruins blew a late third period lead in their tilt with the Stars only to lose in the shootout thanks to shootout goals by Seguin and fellow former Bruin Rich Peverley.
From there the Bruins flipped the switch, blowing through the homestand with wins in their last four games including wins against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, two teams at the time that where ahead of them in the Atlantic Division standings. You won’t find Bruins head coach Claude Julien complaining about taking 9 out of a 10 possible points in those five games.
“Yeah I think when you look at the record it’s what you wanted; to have a good homestand, and we did. Nine out of 10 points is something certainly to be happy with” said Julien. “And now we have to bring our game on the road and we have three tough road games coming up. So hopefully tomorrow’s a good start to it.”
A big reason as to why the Bruins were so successful the past two weeks was their perfect penalty kill during the homestand. Since allowing four power play goals in their loss to the New Jersey Devils on October 26, the Bruins have killed off 26 straight penalties, including 20 on the homestand.
Killing penalties is something the Bruins take pride in.
“A lot, it’s a huge asset of ours; we’ve always been very proud to be on the PK, and when something gets through we’ve got a great goalie back there to stop it, so it’s just something we take a lot of pride in and we want to keep building on that” said Bruins forward Brad Marchand after the Bruins 3-2 overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday evening.
The homestand was not perfect by any means, but it was a step in the right direction for a Bruins team who heading into this homestand were on the outside of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins will enter their game in Ottawa Friday night three points behind the division leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
One of the many positives coming from the homestand was the play of Bruins backup goalie Chad Johnson who made just his third start of the season in Thursdays win over Columbus. The start was Johnson’s first at home. With the game tied at two and the Blue Jackets really pressing to take the lead in the third period Johnson came up huge with some big saves on prime scoring chances. The play of Johnson was a huge a confidence booster for he and the Bruins.
“Yeah, it’s just nice to get two points. I get in once every two weeks, and I try and work as hard as I can in practice to make myself ready for these situations. The guys I think know that there might be a little bit of rust every now and then, and they battled really hard for me. It was a big two points for us and we were all excited to get the two points.”
Another bright spot was the play of the Bruins top line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Jarome Iginla. The trio combined for four goals in the five games, including Lucic’s game winner in overtime against Columbus, the first of his career.
The top line is finally developing that chemistry that will make them one of the league’s best. Krejci and Lucic sit first and second respectively in points while Iginla sits tied for fourth.
The Bruins are set to kick off a brief three-game road trip Friday night in Ottawa that will take them to Carolina and New York before returning home for three straight.
Boston Bruins – Anthony covers the Boston Bruins for the Inside Edge Hockey News. During the Bruins 2010-2011 Stanley Cup winning season He created his own blog called Bruins Buzz. Just prior to the Stanley Cup Playoffs he began writing for Bruins Daily, which at the time was called The Hub of Hockey. He is a paralegal who also works as waiter at Fenway Park. In his spare time he plays and closely follow hockey from the NHL ranks to College hockey.