Boston is still looking to lock up the Northeast Division crown and secure the highest seed possible. Even more important, the Bruins are looking to clean up any areas of concern in their game to be ready when the action really heats up in the postseason.
So while the Bruins try to build some momentum heading into the playoffs, 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 the Bruins Shootout.
1. The Bruins have a pair of Cup winners on the roster in Mark Recchi and Shawn Thornton, and other veterans with plenty of playoff experience. But they also have youngsters like Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin and Steven Kampfer, who have never experienced the intensity of NHL postseason action, as well as veterans like Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell, who have yet to play in the playoffs, and Tomas Kaberle, who last played a postseason game in 2004. That makes this last stretch of games all the more important to get those players ready for the playoffs. While the schedule-makers weren't too kind with loading the back end of Boston's schedule with some very hot teams, that may be to the Bruins' benefit in getting prepared for the postseason.
"It's great," defenseman Andrew Ference said. "These last 10 [games] for us are as good preparation as you can get. We're playing teams that are fighting for playoff spots. We're playing teams that are at the top of the tables. And then you got teams like [New] Jersey and stuff that are really hot, the hottest teams in the league. So it's great prep for us. If we don't bring our A game, it's going to be a tough slog in any of the remaining ones. So Jersey was a good game for us. Montreal was obviously a great game for us. [Saturday's 1-0 loss to the Rangers] wasn't a bad game. [Saturday] was a playoff-type of game."
2. There was some concern over how Zdeno Chara would respond to the criticism and attention swirling around him since his controversial hit on Max Pacioretty in Montreal on March 8. The furor over that play and subsequent lack of suspension hasn't completely subsided and the criminal investigation it spawned is still open, but Bruins fans no longer have to worry about the effect it might have on Chara's game.
If anything, the entire melodrama only served to refocus the Bruins captain. Up through that game, Chara had managed just 1-7-8 totals and was a plus-1 with 35 penalty minutes in 21 games after his hat trick against Carolina on Jan. 17. Since that game in Montreal, Chara has broken out with 2-8-10 totals and a plus-7 rating with just two penalty minutes in nine games. His goals include a game-winner against New Jersey, and he matched a career high with three assists in the rematch with Montreal.
3. The Bruins' struggles on the power play have been well chronicled, but there appears to finally be a light at the end of this particular tunnel. For the first time since Jan. 18, Boston scored a pair of power-play goals on Sunday, their only goals in a 2-1 win over the Flyers. The Bruins also had single power-play goals against the Devils and Canadiens after managing just one goal on the man advantage in the previous 12 games, and that came in a 5-on-3 situation against the Islanders.
Beyond the goals, the Bruins have looked sharper on their chances, even when they haven't scored in recent games. They've done a better job of setting up in the offensive zone, had better movement and most of all, they started to vary their tactics. Instead of forcing everything to Chara and Kaberle at the points, the Bruins have done more to open up things down low. Claude Julien also switched up the personnel a bit, using Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin and Mark Recchi up front with Dennis Seidenberg and Patrice Bergeron at the points on the second unit behind the top unit of Chara, Kaberle, Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Nathan Horton. That top unit has three of the power-play goals over the last four games, while Marchand scored the game-winner from Seidenberg and Recchi on Sunday.
4. Horton had the other power-play goal Sunday, continuing his recent run of success. It's been feast or famine for Horton in his first season in Boston, but he's playing some of his best all-around hockey when it matters most down the stretch. After opening the year with 8-10-18 totals in his first 17 games, Horton suffered through an extended slump with just 5-7-12 totals over the next 34 games. His scoring touch has returned in the past month, with 10-9-19 totals in his last 19 games, and it's no coincidence that his scoring has picked up along with his physical play. He has 20 hits in March after not having more than 11 in any other month. He's also dropped the gloves three times during this recent roll. His physical play creates space for himself and his linemates and gets him involved in the game, and it's a positive sign for the Bruins that Horton appears to be ramping up that aspect of his game heading into his first playoff appearance in the NHL.
5. While Horton is trending up heading toward the postseason, Michael Ryder is spiraling in the opposite direction. Ryder has managed just one goal in his last 19 games and has no goals, just two assists and is a minus-3 over his last 11 games. That slump earned him a seat in the press box twice in the last seven games, the first times he has been a healthy scratch in his three seasons in Boston. When he has played of late, he's been relegated to fourth-line duty with limited ice time, including a season-low 9:40 Saturday versus the Rangers before being scratched on Sunday. Ryder has shown an ability to raise his game in the playoffs in the past (9-9-18 in 24 postseason games with the Bruins), but he'll have to find his game, and find his way out of Julien's doghouse, before the end of the season to earn a shot at playing a significant role in this postseason.
6. Milan Lucic isn't afraid to go into the dirty areas of the ice, and his aggressive play has been rewarded with his first 30-goal season. He's equally unafraid of going into some risky areas with his wardrobe, though the success of those endeavors is more subjective.
Lucic modeled a plaid fedora after scoring a hat trick against Florida back in November, a chapeau that future hat trick scorers Patrice Bergeron and Chara chose not to don on their big nights. After scoring his 30th goal last Tuesday against New Jersey, Lucic went retro again, sporting a 1980s-era Bruins warm-up jacket in his postgame session with the media in the locker room. Lucic noted that the jacket had been found by Ference, who's never one to pass up a chance to recycle. Lucic said Ference "wanted to pass it on between the guys, so I guess I'm the model."
We'll see if this fashion catches on better than the hat trick fedora, which remains sitting atop Lucic's stall collecting dust.
