The Bruins left the cozy confines of the Garden after a perfect 5-0-0 homestand to open their first extended road trip of the season. The three-game trek began Saturday night on Long Island, but the change of location did little to change the result. Boston rolled to a 6-0 victory over the Islanders, posting its eighth straight win and moving into seventh place in the Eastern Conference less than three weeks after being mired in dead last.
"We wanted to look at the first game," Bruins forward Chris Kelly said of the trip. "Obviously the first one was important and we wanted to get off to a good start, especially in the first [period] and I thought we did that and kind of got better and better."
The Bruins did just that, jumping out to a quick lead in the first. They finished that frame with more goals than the Islanders had shots, as they went into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead and a 13-2 advantage in shots.
They never looked back after that. Kelly scored the third goal of that opening frame and added another in the third period, but he had plenty of help. Five different Bruins had goals and 10 players collected points as Boston continues to run roughshod over the rest of the league.
They proved they could be every bit as effective on the road as they have been at the Garden, which will be important in the coming weeks. After opening the season with 13 of their first 17 games at home, the Bruins know they will be facing plenty of hostile crowds the rest of the way.
"It's been a little bit different, that's for sure," said Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, who finished with 23 saves for his 28th career shutout. "We've been at home a lot, which has been nice in its own way, but now it's time to pay the piper and we know we're going to have a lot of road games coming up. So it was important to us to have a good start to this road trip and get off on the right foot and hopefully carry over the way we've been playing."
Of course, this one didn't feel like a true road contest. The Bruins wore their home blacks as the Islanders opted to wear white in conjunction with a pregame ceremony inducting former Isles (and Bruins) great Ed Westfall into the Islanders Hall of Fame. And there were plenty of Bruins fans on hand at the Nassau Coliseum, with chants of "Let's Go Bruins" audible throughout the third period.
"Being an Original Six team is something special, because it seems everywhere you go you have Bruins fans," Kelly said. "This is something that's pretty special."
The Bruins won't get that kind of welcome in the final two stops on this road trip. They next head to the Bell Centre in Montreal on Monday, where the hatred from Habs fans will be palpable when Zdeno Chara and the Bruins return for the latest chapter in that ancient rivalry.
The reception won't be any better in Buffalo on Wednesday when Boston visits for the first time since Milan Lucic leveled goalie Ryan Miller at the Garden last Saturday. Beyond the animosity, those games also mean a lot in the standings, as the Bruins are just two points behind Buffalo for the lead in the Northeast Division and only one point ahead of Montreal.
That makes for two very big clashes before returning home for Thanksgiving, but Bruins coach Claude Julien is trying to keep things in perspective.
"That's just it, everybody says 'big this, big that,'" Julien said. "I know it's the Montreal Canadiens but we just have to approach it like any other game, focus more on keeping our emotions in check and just going out and play the way we did [Saturday]."
And Julien had no complaints about the complete effort his club gave in getting the road trip off on the right foot.
"It's always a good way to start," Julien said. "You want to get some confidence going. You win the first game of a road trip and it makes you feel a lot better going into the next one."
