They're stocking up style points

Situational play has led to an early-season takeoff

WILMINGTON - They can win ugly and they can win with grace. They can win smart and they'll take the lucky bounce, too. And look what coach Claude Julien's emphasis on team defense has done for the Bruins: It has sprung the offense.

The Bruins' strong start (12-3-0-4) has blossomed into a 10-1-0-1 joyride, including Wednesday's wild 7-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. The Bruins have used four line combinations most games, and more players are lighting up the scoreboard. While Marc Savard still leads the team with 25 points, including a goal and three assists against Buffalo, Chuck Kobasew has returned from a leg injury to pump in three goals and three assists in six games, big defenseman Zdeno Chara seems to have recovered from offseason shoulder surgery (he cracked two pills past Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller), and longtime defensive forward P.J. Axelsson won a shootout last week with a star turn.

Then there's the corps of energetic youngsters, each brimming with offensive capabilities, each beginning to thrive in the NHL: Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Blake Wheeler, and Phil Kessel.

The Bruins averaged 2.52 goals last season, 24th in the NHL. After 19 games, they are averaging 3.21, sixth in the league.

"That's an issue that seemed to be pretty important to some people last year, the fact that we weren't scoring enough, and we certainly wanted to improve that because it was something that needed to get better," said Julien. "You can never anticipate at the beginning of the year where you're going to be and right now it's nice to see that we are able to score goals."

Julien pointed out that goals tend to be harder to come by in the second half of the season when defenses tighten, but this is what he expected.

"I really felt confident about this team," said Julien. "Obviously, we're on a winning streak here that not too many teams are capable of doing so we're taking advantage of it. I really felt that the way this team grew last year, this young team, that if they could follow that up this year that we could be in pretty good shape and so far they've proven us right."

It's also been an All-Star kind of season for goalie Tim Thomas (1.78 goals-against average, .944 save percentage), even though he was left off the All-Star ballot.

"We are proving it to ourselves, that this is where we belong, game by game," said Thomas about the Northeast Division-leading Bruins. "That has been our goal, but now we're accomplishing it and we've got to keep it going. We started to show, even last year, that we're a character team - we never give up, never quit - and that's carried over and we've actually built on it so far this year. From a goaltender's perspective, it's very impressive; our overall offensive threat has just impressed this year. With [Patrice Bergeron] back, adding [Michael] Ryder, and Wheeler - they can't concentrate on just one."

Looking for consistency

Krejci, in his second season, has four multiple-point games this season, but has been shut out in five of the last six games. "We had a little chat yesterday about that exactly," said Julien. "The thing last year that we talked about was for him to build some consistency in his game. I thought he's been good since the beginning of the year. I didn't think he was bad the last few games, but I knew he could be better. He needs to bring some awareness, he could be a difference-maker. I thought he had a great game [Wednesday] night, it's nice to see." Krejci had a goal and two assists against the Sabres . . . Savard has been having great success playing alongside a pair of youngsters, Kessel, 21, and Lucic, 20. "Maybe I'm in my prime," said the 31-year-old Savard with a chuckle. "Playing with two young kids really gets me going. I've got to keep up with them and they're both flying every night. They want to play and that's a lot of fun for me; I'm having a lot of fun this year. We've got to be good defensively but we've got to want to get something offensively out of every game and help the team that way." "[Savard is] having a good influence on his linemates, because first of all, offensively he's a gifted player and he makes plays," said Julien. "What's impressive is the fact that he's really bought into playing the other end of the rink as well. I've watched some clips where he buries his head, backchecks hard, especially when he's responsible maybe for the turnover, he's going to dig in instead of hanging his head. Young kids around him can't help but follow."

Changes on the fly

With defenseman Andrew Ference on injured reserve with a fractured right tibia, Matt Lashoff has joined the defensive corps from Providence, and Axelsson has been stationed at the point on the second power-play unit, routinely manned by Ference, with Dennis Wideman at the other point. Axelsson was pleased to get the assignment, but added it didn't change his game a lot. "Maybe positioning a little bit, where I should be," he said. "I've got to think about skating backwards and that's not easy. I try not to think too much. I have Dennis out there covering for me, so that's nice. But I just try to make it simple, shoot it when I get it and stuff like that. It's nice to play a different position. It is different. I'm just going to go out there and do my best." . . . Three players did not skate yesterday: forward Marco Sturm, who has an upper-body injury and remains day to day; and defensemen Wideman and Aaron Ward, both given "maintenance days." Wideman and Ward are expected to play tonight against the Panthers at TD Banknorth Garden.