Smooth ride for Bruins on road
PHILADELPHIA -- Two months ago, when the Bruins were losing to all comers and their owner ("I expect change") was drumming his fingers, this looked like the road trip from hell. Seven games across two-plus weeks, three of them with the four top teams in the conference.
"It's certainly a great measuring stick to see where you stand, going into hostile buildings and playing against some of the best teams in the league," said coach Mike Sullivan, whose surging club, coming off a huge 5-2 triumph at Toronto Tuesday, takes on the sagging Flyers tonight (8, ESPN) at the
How, now? Five games into the trip, the Broons are the beast of the East, with three wins and two overtime losses and a 7-0-1-2 record in their last 10. With a win tonight, Boston could take over first place in the Northeast Division.
"We'd love to get the 2 points," mused Sullivan, whose club may well have left wing Sergei Samsonov (bruised ribs) back in the lineup tonight.
Only a half-dozen points separate the top six teams, with Boston sitting fourth but within a paw's reach of the Flyers, who've been blown out, 5-2, in their last two games by San Jose and Tampa Bay after winning five straight.
Night in, night out, the Bruins have been getting at least 1 point. They've also been playing with a feral intensity that was clearly lacking before the holidays.
"The bottom line is, you've got to get the results," said Sullivan. "When you don't, changes are inevitable."
If nobody's been talking about filling up a bus to Providence for a while now, it's because the Bruins have been doing two things they weren't doing in December.
"Our awareness away from the puck," said Sullivan. "The decisions we make with the puck in critical areas of the ice. Winning one-on-one battles. Finishing checks. Those thankless tasks that help you win."
Now come the Flyers, who've been shaken by the recent loss of centers Jeremy Roenick (broken jaw) and Keith Primeau (concussion), have two left wings (Todd Fedoruk and Donald Brashear) with bum knees, and will be missing goalie Robert Esche (knee) until next month. "We know they're hurting," said Joe Thornton. Besides grabbing 2 more points from a divisional leader, a Boston victory tonight would leave a pointed calling card for a potential playoff rival. "It's a mind-set we want to get into," said Ted Donato. "Not only the results, but how we play. We learned that coming out of that bad stretch we had."
That stretch -- as in three W's for December -- seems just an off-key yuletide carol now. Jeremy Jacobs is no longer playing barumpapumpum with his fingers. And the Bruins, once tight and tense, now are limber and loose.
"When you win, everything eases up in the locker room," Thornton said. "It's a great feeling. You just want to ride it as long as you can."
