Bruins on road to success
Is it the cozy turndown service at the road hotels? All those idle hours spent boning up on Accepted Principles of Positional Play? A novel approach to male group dynamics? The sight of April on the horizon? How has a Bruin bunch that couldn't win in December turned into one that can't lose?
"I don't know that we've discovered anything new," mused coach Mike Sullivan, whose out-of-towners -- 8-0-1-2 in their last 11 games -- are in Carolina tonight to take on the Hurricanes in the finale of a seven-game tour. "I think the players have shown what they're capable of when they put their minds to it."
The Bruins, coming off back-to-back victories over division leaders Toronto (5-2) and Philadelphia (4-3), clearly are capable of playing with the league's best. Now, with just six-plus weeks left in the regular season, they're playing for position and the home-ice advantage that eluded them last year, when New Jersey knocked Boston out in five games in the opening round of the playoffs.
"We've been in the background, moving up slowly," said Brian Rolston, whose mates are tied with Ottawa, just a point behind Toronto in the Northeast standings. "But there's no reason why we can't win the division."
Not if Boston keeps playing the way it has for the past month. The work by Andrew Raycroft and Felix Potvin between the pipes obviously has been crucial. "Goaltending is a big part of this," said captain Joe Thornton.
But what's been striking about the club's recent run, with no regulation losses since Jan. 24, has been the reappearance of the old Lunchpail AC virtues from three decades ago. The veteran leadership. The acceptance of roles, however mundane. The attention to what their coach calls "thankless tasks" like mucking in the corners and finishing checks. "We're doing all the little things right," said Rolston.
Notable, too, has been the Bruins' newfound taste for the jugular, as displayed in Thursday's triumph over the Flyers, whom Boston hadn't beaten in Philly in two years.
All four of their goals -- from four players -- came from firing and following. "That's when we're at our best," said Sullivan. "When we're pressing the issue up the ice."
Hal Gill, the hulking defenseman who'd scored only once all season, launched a skipping shot from the left boards that surprised goalie Sean Burke and put Boston ahead after four minutes. Rob Zamuner, with only three previous goals on his seasonal resume, got himself to the slot in time to put away Rolston's rebound.
Patrice Bergeron, the 18-year-old rookie with a 40-year-old head, cruised from inside his own blue line with a purloined puck to snooker Burke to the short side. "A goal-scorer's goal," marveled Sullivan. "He put that exactly where he wanted to put it."
Then came the killer man-up goal by Glen Murray off a Thornton rebound, just 31 seconds into the third period. "Putting the puck on the net and going to the net," Sullivan said.
That's been the not-so-secret behind Boston's recent scoring binge, which has featured four or more goals in six of the last eight games. Suddenly, the team that was blanked five times on FleetStreet before the new year is a lamplighter's fantasy and the Bruins are back among the elite.
So what's the plan after Monday's homecoming? "We just keep pushing," said Sullivan, whose club plays 13 of its final 20 games inside the Vault. "We have to make sure we don't get ahead of ourselves. We'll be sure to remind the guys why they've been in the win column."
