On Monday, they departed the Bell Centre just a little bit happier. Just three days before Thanksgiving, the Bruins were plenty thankful for Tim Thomas' strong work in net, which carried Boston to a 1-0 victory over the Canadiens.
They're even more grateful for that fact that was their ninth straight victory, and that streak has carried them all the way back to the top of the Northeast Division and the third seed in the conference.
"You couldn't be happier right now," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We've got ourselves back in a good spot in our division and in the conference. Now it's a matter of continuing it and staying there, and that's going to be a tough job."
The Bruins stand at 12-7-0, good for 24 points through 19 games. Buffalo also has 24 points, but has played one more game. That leaves the Bruins in first place in the division for the moment, though they'll have to extend their win streak to 10 on Wednesday in Buffalo to stay there.
That game already had plenty of intrigue with it being the first meeting between the clubs since Milan Lucic's controversial hit on Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller. The Sabres did nothing in retaliation and the league did not discipline Lucic, leaving many to expect some fireworks on Wednesday.
But now the stakes are suddenly even higher, with first place on the line as well as any hopes of the Sabres reclaiming some shred of self-respect and dignity after failing to defend their teammate.
The Bruins aren't the type of club to shy away from conflict and won't fail to stick up for anyone in Black and Gold, but they also aren't going to be looking for trouble. They'd rather just continue this amazing ride they're on for as long as possible, though to do that they'll likely need a little better overall effort than what they put in on Monday.
"I don't know about [Monday], but in the other games we played a lot better," Julien said. "I thought [Monday] we played on our heels too much. We didn't have enough guys going. We were fortunate enough to have a great goaltender and some guys doing the job and we won a tight one, but certainly we need to be better heading into Buffalo next game."
This time, the tweaks shouldn't be too hard. Over the course of this nine-game streak the Bruins have shown an ability to win games in just about every fashion imaginable. They've blown out teams with offensive extravaganzas, squeaked out late rallies and even had their goalies steal a game or two.
While Thomas stole the show on Monday, the real key to Boston's climb back up the standings has been getting contributions from throughout the lineup. Even on Monday, it was Andrew Ference who was the unlikely offensive star as he scored the game's lone goal when he jumped up to join the attack on a delayed penalty.
Even in the midst of their October struggles, the Bruins never felt their game was too far off from where it needed to be. Their success over the past three weeks has just affirmed that faith in Julien's system.
"Even the last time we were here, we weren't that far off," Thomas said. "I said that early on, we weren't that far off. The difference is not as big as you think, but even though it's a small difference, it ends up being a huge difference because now we're winning. We're getting the job done and we've climbed all the way out of that basement. We were in a pretty big hole there."
They're out of that hole now, but once again everyone will be gunning for the reigning champs, looking to knock them back down again. The Sabres will be waiting for their shot on Wednesday, and the Bruins better be ready if they want to enjoy Thanksgiving a lot more than they did Halloween.
