BOSTON — Leading up the NHL trade deadline, the Bruins had developed a reputation for beating up on weaker opponents but falling flat against quality competition. In the days since the deadline passed Monday afternoon, they’ve been the exact opposite.
After playing just barely well enough Tuesday night to earn a 2-1 win over the lowly Calgary Flames, Boston proceeded to give two of the NHL’s best teams all they could handle.
First came an authoritative 4-2 victory Thursday night over the defending Stanley Cup champion and Western Conference-leading Chicago Blackhawks, during which the Bruins held the NHL’s leading scorer, Patrick Kane, to zero points and two shots on goal. Playoff teams from the West have been especially unkind to the B’s this season, with the conference’s top seven going 7-2-0 against the Black and Gold.
Then came Saturday night, when the Bruins took the Washington Capitals — a team with an 18-point cushion atop the Eastern Conference standings and one the B’s have not defeated since 2014 — to overtime before ultimately falling 2-1.
Had it not been for a debatable reversal of a Torey Krug goal, Boston might have taken four points from two clubs universally regarded as being among the NHL’s three or four best.
“We were one shot away from beating the top two teams in the NHL,” said Krug, whose streak of consecutive games without a goal now sits at 41. “So, for us, it’s just realizing that if we stick to the system and keep doing those things well, we’ll have a chance to win any game.”
“I thought we competed hard and well,” added center Patrice Bergeron, who scored Boston’s lone goal in the loss. “I thought we executed the way we want to — a few miscues here and that, but overall, you’ve got to like what we’ve done. But we’ve talked about improving as a team, and that’s what we have to do moving forward. The schedule is not getting any easier.”
The key now for the Bruins — as Bergeron alluded to — will be maintaining the momentum gained during their encouraging 120 minutes against the Blackhawks and Capitals. Eleven of their final 16 games are against teams that entered Friday night in playoff position, including one more against Chicago and four against the three teams Boston currently is battling with for the Atlantic Division’s three non-wild-card berths: the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings.
Florida’s recent inconsistency (4-4-2 in its last 10 games) and Tampa Bay’s furious late-season surge (Saturday’s win over the Carolina Hurricanes was its ninth in a row) has created a near deadlock atop the Atlantic standings, with just three points separating the Cats, Bolts and B’s. The Bruins, who sit in third place in the division with 79 points after Saturday’s loss, will see both teams during a Florida back-to-back beginning Monday in Sunrise.
“I’ve felt like our game has tightened up, and we’ve played good hockey,” goalie Tuukka Rask said. “Really cutting down those scoring chances against, and that’s a great sign. You can’t always score four or five goals, and you’ve got to kind of try to find a way to win these tough games. (On Saturday) we fell short — but great effort.”
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
