Bruins Notes: Successful Road Trip Brings Boston Closer To Playoff Form

The Boston Bruins secured eight of a possible 12 points on their six-game road trip by defeating the Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals, Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes in that span.

Boston put forth a 60-minute effort in each of those games, including a 4-1 victory over a surging Carolina team to close out the trip.

“I’m really pleased with (Thursday night’s) win,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “A team that was 8-1-1 and has been playing really well.”

The Bruins held the two-point advantage over the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference standings heading into the matchup and exploded for three first-period goals from Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Danton Heinen to set the tone.

“I thought in the first period we executed really well compliments of odd-man rushes and made some high-end plays led by our captain (Marchand) and then our elite goal scorer (Pastrnak),” Montgomery said.

The Hurricanes had four days off from their last game, a 3-0 shutout over the Montreal Canadiens, and the Bruins were expected them to come out rested and ready to battle.

“Definitely something that we talked about,” Marchand said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “They’re such a really good forechecking team. They usually don’t usually give up much and always a very tough game in here. I think we really just mentally prepared to play tonight. We knew how tough it would be and we were excited for the challenge. The guys did a great job.”

The Bruins had been plagued by opponents capitalizing on odd-man rushes, but Boston was able to get up ice on Carolina in the win.

“I think the biggest thing was winning board battles,” Marchand explained. “A lot of them came from guys getting a puck off a wall in a pinch and making a play under pressure. In that type of system, if you can do that and catch a guy going the wrong way and take advantage, and we did that.”

The Bruins were focused on capturing road wins when they began the trip against the Flyers on March 23.

“You have to be able to win on the road, and especially, all these teams that we’re playing right now are tough, and they are playoff-bound,” Marchand said. “So they’re a great challenge every night. It’s where you want to play. You want to play these tough games down the stretch and get prepared. It’s not going to get any easier. So, it’s good for us right now.”

Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Hurricanes game:

— Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves on 28 Carolina shots for his third straight win and 25th overall. The team wins are more important to Swayman than his personal stats, though.

“I think it’s a great momentum booster for our team, going into this last stretch and preparing us for what’s to come,” Swayman said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I’m really happy with how the guys responded to the travel and in these late-season games. Really excited to see how we’re pushing right now.”

— Pastrnak, Heinen and Pavel Zacha each registered multi-point games in Boston’s win. Pastrnak extended his point streak to three games with two goals and three assists in that span. Zacha earned assists on Pastrnak and Heinen’s goals. He now has two goals and six assists in his last five games.

— The Bruins power play didn’t capitalize on the four opportunities it had, while the penalty kill went 2-for-3 in the win.

— Boston improved to 45-17-15 overall, 28-12-5 against Eastern Conference opponents and 11-8-2 against the Metropolitan Division.

— The Bruins return home to take on the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon in Boston. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game will air on ABC. The Black and Gold will return to NESN when they host the Hurricanes on April 9.