Sure, it’s not a playoff win that gets the team one step closer to the ultimate prize, but it’s very encouraging to see the B’s put up back-to-back wins against a Hurricanes team fighting for its playoff life.
It’s only January, and a week before the All-Star break, but the Bruins know how critical points are in the East. Defenseman Andrew Ference spoke about the importance of earning points way back in November, and they’ll remain vital to the B’s all the way through April.
With 59 points and a three-point lead for the top spot in the Northeast Division, the Bruins have climbed into the second spot in the Eastern Conference behind the high-flying Philadelphia Flyers and slightly above the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The B’s have done so with good team defense, outstanding goaltending and a plethora of goal scoring. How much scoring, you ask? In their last six games (a stretch in which the B’s are 5-1-0), the Black and Gold have been able to light the lamp 29 times — an average of just under five goals per game. Tuesday night’s game in Carolina was perhaps the biggest test of the new year for the Bruins. Having obliterated the Canes 7-0 at the TD Garden on Monday afternoon, the team knew the task at hand wouldn’t be as easy 24 hours later at the RBC Center. The Bruins were ready, however, as head coach Claude Julien prepared his team well, and the team passed that exam with flying colors.
“The confidence is there,” Julien said. “They know that in the third period, we’ve been a good team. The fact it was tied, and 20 minutes was going to decide the game, our guys felt confident they could go out there and be a better team.”
The B’s netted two goals in the third period and departed Raleigh with a 3-2 win.
“This was a big win, because [the Hurricanes] played a great game,” Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk added. “They basically played the way we did [Monday]. They really took it to us, but we found a way to win.”
It also helped that this year’s Vezina Trophy front-runner had another superhuman game. Tim Thomas improved to 22-4-6 after stopping 43 of the 45 shots that Carolina threw at him. The scoring chances were no joke either, as Eric Staal and the Canes attack were outshooting Boston 30-5 at one point.
In the end, the Bruins found a way to win. They swept the home-and-home series against Carolina and will now prepare to take on the Sabres on Thursday night in Boston, as the division rivals square off for the fourth time this season.
If the week ends the way it began, hockey fans across New England will be satisfied. As for football fans across New England, well, they will hopefully be watching the Pittsburgh Steelers crush the New York Jets.
It’s only fitting, right?
