The Bruins know where they stand as they ready for a sprint though the second half of the regular season.
They are in a playoff spot coming out of the All-Star break that they’re hanging onto with a fingernail grip and every team in the Eastern Conference has games in hand against them with two plus months to go in the season.
So, the B’s are going to need every bit of the emotion, urgency and all-out desperation they showed in last Thursday’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they’re going to need it for the final 30 regular-season games if they want to make the playoffs.
“I think the schedule lends itself a little more with us not playing three [games] in four [days] all the time, or if there’s a back-to-back like there is [in Tampa tonight and Washington on Wednesday] then we get a couple of days to fill the tank back up again,” said David Backes. “That being said, [the emotional component] is a necessity now. You’re fighting for your life and you’re gathering points. Now is the time to do it otherwise you’re looking back [and saying] you didn’t do enough, soon enough.
“You can’t make those games up. Each one counts so you’ve got to have the emotional investment. We need those points more than the teams that we’re playing, and that’s got to be the mindset.”
It’s going to be difficult for the Bruins to do just that given how elusive consistency has been in their overall game this season, but the bottom line is that it must happen if they want to reach their goals. The Bruins won’t be able to stamp their own ticket to the Stanley Cup playoffs unless they can put together a long winning streak over what’s left of their regular season, so it will be up to them to go out and earn it.
“It’s a mindset. You’ve got to go out and create those [emotional] situations and that’s what we did [against the Penguins],” said Claude Julien. “We definitely got emotionally attached to that game and did the things we need to do. It’s one of those things where if we can find a way to sustain that then it’s definitely going to benefit us.”
Boston Bruins
That’s the challenge for a Bruins team that was caught way too flat-footed on too many occasions in the first half of the season, and needs to fix that along with the goal-scoring and backup goaltending issues that have dogged the B's all season.