The Boston Bruins showed their dominance against the Vancouver Canucks and their character against the Calgary Flames to earn back-to-back wins during their five-game road trip.
The two wins indicate the type of team the Bruins are when they play to their strengths, and Bruins captain Brad Marchand has noticed the difference.
“I’ve liked the way we take care of pucks in the neutral zone and transition quick,” Marchand told NESN’s Judd Sirott on Wednesday. “We’re doing a much better job at creating in the offensive zone. We’re playing direct. … When you do that, you create havoc, and that’s when the seams open up and the other plays and the slot chances. We’re doing a much better job at kind of playing to our strength.”
In the first two games of the road trip, the Bruins were outscored 13-2 and didn’t have the details of their game, getting outplayed in every aspect. Boston flipped the script in the last two games — especially in the come-from-behind overtime win against the Flames on Tuesday.
“It felt like we still had a ton of confidence that we had the ability to come back,” Marchand told reporters after the win in Calgary. “A period is a long time in this league, and confidence and belief is dangerous. If you have that, then you can make it happen.”
The Bruins are 9-4-0 in the 13 games under interim head coach Joe Sacco, including four comeback wins against the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and Flames.
“You play until the last whistle every single game,” Pastrnak said after tallying the game-winner in Calgary. “We obviously went through some hard times already during the season, so it’s important to show that we can learn, and we’re not going to give up, and we’re going to fight.”
Boston closes out its road trip against the defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night at Rogers Place. While the Bruins are riding a two-game winning streak, the Oilers are coming off a 6-5 loss to the Florida Panthers in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Finals.
