They've found a new legitimate top scoring line, rediscovered an old goalie playing at an elite level once again and quickly forged some genuine chemistry throughout the lineup.
But even with so many things going right, there are going to be some rough patches. And how the club deals with those will say a lot more about this edition of the Bruins than seeing them cruise to victory.
The Bruins had their four-game win streak snapped by the Rangers on Saturday, falling 3-2 to New York before a sellout crowd of 17,565 at the Garden.
It wasn't the result those fans were hoping to see, but there were some positives to the loss.
The Bruins bounced back from a poor start to make a game of it, didn't fold after a pair of flukey goals put them into a deep hole and overcame a short bench caused by an injury to top-pairing defenseman Johnny Boychuk, who missed the final two periods after getting slashed on the hand.
"I think we played hard," said Bruins forward Greg Campbell. "We had a lot of shots. It was obviously a different situation for our team, but it's a long year. We're going to have to learn how to come back. I thought we played pretty well. They came out hard, but we battled back. It was a close game."
Campbell was one of the guilty parties in the Bruins' sometimes sloppy play. He took a slashing penalty midway through the second, then a high-sticking double minor when he clipped Rangers forward Brandon Prust in the final minute of the second.
"It was just a battle behind the net," said Campbell. "I lifted his stick, the puck was there, and when I turned around I clipped him. Obviously unintentional. You never want to see somebody hurt like that. It's an unfortunate play. … I'm a pretty honest player. I don't like spending time in the box, especially when we're behind."
The Bruins were behind because of a sloppy start in the first. It wasn't necessarily a lack of intensity, but rather a misdirection of some of that energy that got the Bruins in trouble.
"It was almost like we weren't working smart," said Bruins forward Milan Lucic. "We were skating all over the ice, but we weren't in position. We weren't making good, clean, crisp passes and I think that's what hurt us."
The Rangers took advantage with a couple of strange goals 35 seconds apart midway through the third. Artem Anisimov batted a rebound out of midway for a goal that withstood a video review, then Alex Frolov was credited with a goal on a puck that bounced around in front and eventually up and over Tuukka Rask.
"They were fluke goals, but they crashed the net," said Campbell. "They don't ask how you score them. We've got to shake that off, and I think we did a good job of that."
Where last year's team probably would have folded after a couple of bad breaks like that, this year's Bruins battled back. That began with a couple literal fights as Shawn Thornton took on 6-foot-7, 265-pound Derek Boogaard and Lucic battled Prust.
"I was trying to get the boys going," said Thornton. "I think we did a pretty good job of turning it around. A couple bounces went their way at the start, but I think from maybe myself and Looch getting into it, the boys did a good job of battling pretty hard. I thought we put some good pressure on them, but they're a good team. They battled hard too. But I pleased with the effort in the second half of the game."
That effort helped produce a power-play goal from Chara in closing seconds of the first, but a breakdown after another power-play chance at the start of the second led to the eventual winning goal. Marc Staal came out of the box and broke in alone on Rask to make it 3-1.
Nathan Horton answered with his fifth of the year off a sweet between-the-legs pass by David Krejci, but that was as close as Boston would come.
Bruins coach Claude Julien saw plenty of room for improvement, but also wasn't dismayed by what he saw from his club once it did get back to playing its game.
"That’s what we kept preaching on the bench in the first period," said Julien. "We’ve got to get our noses a little dirty here. We’ve got to start winning some battles and some races. [The Rangers] seemed to have a little bit more jump. They were on top of the puck a lot more than we were in the first period, and you know, it was a matter of getting that message across, and it took a while. It was like you were cranking up that machine and you were hopefully winding it up enough that it would get going and like I said there was a lot of damage done before that happened."
The Bruins won't be going 81-1 this year. No one expected this win streak to last forever. But amid the disappointment of a defeat to an Original Six rival, there was still plenty to be encouraged about.
"There's no panic button in here," said Thornton. "We were a little sloppy, but give [the Rangers] credit too. They're a different team than the teams we've played recently. They try to grind it out, sort of the same way we do. They worked hard, you've got to tip your hat a bit too, but we definitely have to concentrate on our starts. But I like the way we responded."
