Lucky #6: Bruins Offensively Outstanding, Maul Panthers

There is no “I” in team and that sentiment is one being felt wholly by the Boston Bruins, who have shown themselves to be an offensive powerhouse, scoring 23 goals in their last five contests combined. While individual players find themselves on hot streaks, the success has come at the gloves of all four lines.

“It’s huge because it doesn’t put so much emphasis on one guy scoring all the goals. We’ve never been a team with a 50-point goal scorer or anything like that,” said Bruins Lucic, who scored two goals in last nights win. “We’ve always had success by having different guys stepping up at different times, and our team play is what has given us the most success. It seems like the lines are clicking and the line combos that are together right now I think that’s why like you said eight guys have been able to hit that double-digits in goals. But in saying that, we want to keep pushing for more. I think it’s great that it almost seems like we’re pushing each other to want more, and I think that’s a good thing to have in this room.”

The chemistry being felt throughout the team has pushed the Bruins to score 6 goals per game in their last three contests alone.

“We play strong from our own end through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone; I think that’s the key,” said Bruins Soderberg. “We don’t give up too many chances and then we create some offense as well.”

Offensively sound, it appears that the Bruins are doing everything right as of late.

“Yeah, we score five, six goals a game you kind of expect to win,” said Bruins Rask. “I know it’s not going to happen every game but It’s good to have that offense going like that. We’ve been scoring goals because we play our system not because we’re trying to do too much out there and that’s a great sign.”

While the netminder is quick to put the success on the skate blades of him teammates, Rask himself has been solid between the pipes for the vast majority of the season. But the team as a whole has upped their game, with an Olympic break steadily approaching.

“I think we’ve been playing pretty good the last six games,” said Bruins Krejci. “Not only one line but all four lines are putting the puck in the net, so that’s good to see, but we would like to continue playing like that. So like I said before, we have five games left before the Olympic break and try to play the same way and I guess get as many points as we get.”

It was a homecoming of sorts for former Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, laced with an unfavorable outcome for the Stanley Cup champion. While Boston fans greeted the Michigan native with cheers at games start, they ushered him out with jeers by the closing horn.

“They’re a good team,” said Panthers Thomas. “They made the Finals last year for a reason and they played a good game against us tonight, combined with us not playing our best game, myself included. They took advantage of it. They just kept coming at us. They rarely let up. When they did, we scored a couple of goals and then they turned it back up.”

With five games left to play before the Olympic break, the Bruins will play host to rival Montreal on Thursday night. Perhaps the meeting between the two garners an overly elevated amount of hype. But with the Canadiens and their fans arriving in Boston, the game plan for the Bruins remains the same.

“I think right now it’s really important that we continue to look at our game. Our game’s been good, but it’s always a good game against the Montreal Canadiens, and it’s always been a great rivalry,” said Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien. “But let’s not look at it so much as a rivalry more than we need to continue bringing our game to the table every night that we’re playing this week, and finish it off on a good note here with five games left before the Olympic break. And that’s where our whole focus is, and you’ve got to try to not get dragged into this big build-up that we have every time we play them.”

Can Boston add another 6 to their goal count? The Original Six rivalry hits the ice at 7 pm tomorrow at TD Garden.

Want to see photos from last nights game? Check out our Game Night Album!