It remains to be seen how long the new coach shine will be in effect in Boston but for now, the Boston Bruins are riding high with their third straight win since Claude Julien was fired.
Tuukka Rask made 25 saves for shutout over Montreal – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Sunday saw the Bruins hang a 4-0 shutout on the Montreal Canadiens.
“I think it’s a level of intensity that’s gone up, a level of commitment that’s gone up, a level of execution that’s gone up and a level of belief. It seems like a different team when we’re out there even when we get scored on,” David Backes said. “Our Achilles heel prior was that the next couple minutes were a continued lull. Tonight, obviously we don’t get scored on, but the mentality that we go out there with, believing that we’re going to win and the guys really are starting to buy in to the little things that it takes to win games. You look at the penalty kill and how that’s performing, and that’s a great place to start.”
Tuukka Rask made 25 saves for the shutout.
“I wouldn’t call it a statement. I think we played a great game overall,” Rask said. “It was a back-to-back for both teams, and even though they might have outplayed us just a little bit in the first (period), we still had the lead and we extended it greatly, two nice goals. So it was a great, great game.”
Winning breeds confidence and the Bruins need only look at the standings to see they trail the Habs but just six points for first in the Atlantic Division.
Adam McQuaid, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci and Frank Vatrano scored for the Bruins who improved to 29-23-6,
WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Bruins highlights
Montreal is 1-5-1 in their last seven games.
“I thought tonight, the first period we were really intense, we got some quality chances,” Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien said. “We just lost momentum in the second with the special teams, they scored on their power play, and when we were on our power play, we got scored [on]. So they were up by three goals, and that was it.”
Carey Price made 32 saves in taking the loss for the Habs.
“We just seem to have lost our identity. We’re a little loose. We just have to take a step back and get refocused,” Price said as the Canadiens head to their five-day break.
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