The Bruins moved within two points of first place in the Eastern Conference with their recent run but are also just five points ahead of the Canadiens in the Northeast Division. They make their final trip to Montreal this season on Tuesday, and while the Bruins get ready to try to strengthen their lead on the Habs and chase down the Flyers, here's a look at a half-dozen items from the past week that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks in this week's edition of Bruins Shootout.
1. Adam McQuaid was just hoping to spend a full season in the NHL for the first time this year. He wasn't expecting to be spending time atop the league leaderboard in any category. But that's just where the young defenseman finds himself with just over a month left in the season. McQuaid is tied for the NHL lead in plus-minus at plus-27. He's been a minus just seven times in 51 games, including just once in the last 10 games. He's also been worse than a minus-1 just once all season, when he was a minus-2 in a 6-1 loss to Detroit on Feb. 11. Still, he downplays the significance of the statistic.
"At times it can be a funny stat," McQuaid said. "You can't necessarily just look at that to judge how a player is playing. You can jump on the ice at the wrong time or vice versa. I guess from a defenseman's standpoint I look at it as an important stat, but I try not to think about it too much. I just try to do my job when I'm out there and hopefully at the end of the day things will continue the way they are."
2. Ever the good teammate, McQuaid was also quick to credit his fellow Bruins when asked if he knew he was leading the league in plus-minus.
"I've been made aware of it," McQuaid said. "I didn't figure that would be the case, but if you look at our lineup we have a lot of guys that are up there. So I think it's more of a testament to the team and how well we've been playing as a group."
McQuaid does have plenty of company on the leaderboard, with four other Bruins also in the top 10 in plus-minus. Nathan Horton is tied for fourth at plus-25, Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic are tied for sixth at plus-24 and Brad Marchand is tied for 10th at plus-23. David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron aren't much further back at plus-21, as the Bruins as a team have scored 47 more goals than they've allowed. Only Vancouver, at plus-61, has a higher differential.
3. With Bergeron missing Saturday's game for personal reasons, new addition Rich Peverley moved to the second-line center spot between Marchand and Mark Recchi. The Bruins aren't going to mess with the chemistry the Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi unit has created, but the flashes Peverley showed playing in the middle might make a more permanent switch to center worthy of consideration. Peverley's speed appeared to play better in the middle, as he created opportunities for Marchand and later for Michael Ryder when Claude Julien shuffled the lines in the third period. Moving Peverley to the middle and Chris Kelly to the wing opposite Ryder could make the third line a more consistent scoring threat without sacrificing anything defensively.
4. Chara finally found the back of the net again on Saturday, opening the scoring in the second period against Pittsburgh with a wrister from the high slot. It was just Chara's second point in the last 10 games and his first goal in 20 games. He hadn't scored since his hat trick against Carolina all the way back on Jan. 17. It wasn't for lack of trying, as Chara attempted 106 shots in those 19 games between goals. He put 66 of those shots on net, 22 were blocked and 18 missed. Chara still leads all Bruins defensemen with 11 goals, but Boston needs him to start striking more consistently, especially on the power play. He's had plenty of opportunities there with Tomas Kaberle setting him up for one-timers, but the power play is 0-for-12 in the last six games and just 1-for-17 since Kaberle arrived. Those numbers have to improve, and Chara needs to contribute to the offense more, both on the man advantage and at even strength, for the Bruins to live up to their growing expectations this spring.
5. Defenseman Shane Hnidy is working his way back from a shoulder injury that ended his bid to make the Phoenix roster in training camp and required surgery. The grueling process of rehabilitating from such a procedure is tough enough, but adding to Hnidy's misfortune is the fact that he was injured while on a tryout with the Coyotes and not under contract. So not only did he lose an opportunity to land a new deal with Phoenix, he also had no medical coverage through the team and had to pay for the surgery and rehab out of his own pocket.
"No, that's it," Hnidy said when asked if the team or insurance helped cover his medical costs. "That's just me on my own. So I was lucky I played for a few years."
It wasn't just paying for medical bills that fueled Hnidy's desire to make a comeback attempt, though. The time away from the game made the 35-year-old veteran realize he wasn't ready for life without hockey just yet.
"I think when I was out that long it made me realize what I was missing," Hnidy said. "It's tough to be out when you're used to a certain way of life and playing the game. For a while there, I don't know if I didn't miss it or was just resentful, but the hunger came back. … You start thinking about things and after a while I realized I wasn't ready to be done. I needed for myself just so I wouldn't have any regrets to really put the effort in and give it one last shot."
6. Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton stepped away from the rink and into a bar recently to shoot his part in the Dropkick Murphys' new video for "Going Out in Style." Thornton's scenes featured the veteran brawler throwing back shots at the bar, but Thornton lifted the veil on some movie-making magic when he revealed what he was actually drinking.
"They were Diet Coke for the first couple hours, then we switched to ginger ale for a bit and then water," Thornton said. "It was 9 in the morning, so it was a little early for whiskey shots. They were available if we wanted them, but, um, no."
Thornton also avoided the fate of teammate Milan Lucic and Sox slugger Kevin Youkilis, who were each pelted with snowballs in their scenes.
"It was getting thrown at Lenny [Clarke] in my scene, so I didn't have to eat a snowball," Thornton said. "Lenny was more than willing to take them. I think he actually enjoyed it."
Thornton definitely enjoyed helping make the video, which also featured Bruins legend Bobby Orr.
"We were not in any scenes together," Thornton said. "I think they filmed on a different day, but any time you can be associated with him it's a good thing. He's a great, great man.
"It was fun," Thornton added. "It was a great experience, and I think it turned out great, too."
