Julien: ‘It's not who we play, it's how we play'

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BOSTON – It was difficult to make much of a reading on how well the Boston Bruins played given the pathetic state of the Arizona Coyotes as they stagger toward the end of the regular season, but the B’s took care of business. The B’s jumped out to a quick two goal lead in the first period, and never looked back in a strong, air-tight 4-1 victory over the Desert Dogs at TD Garden, a game that extended Boston’s winning streak over the Coyotes to six consecutive games.

It also was a solid 60 minute effort where the Coyotes never felt like they had a chance of winning. Those are the kind of efficient, confident victories that the Bruins need right now as they spin through a stretch of four games against the Devils, Coyotes, Flames and Flyers that all should be two point victories if the B’s play up to potential.

It’s obviously important they do that with the Florida Panthers also victorious while chasing them on Saturday, but these are the stretches of games that playoff teams need to win. Claude Julien said it should be about the B’s impressing themselves rather than playing up, or down, to their competition.

The Coyotes have now lost nine games in a row during their worst losing streak since 1994, but that’s exactly the kind of things an easily satisfied Bruins team shouldn’t count on in the middle of a very manageable stretch of games.

“One thing that we say often is that we really kind of try to prepare ourselves right now. You know, I said to the guys before the game ‘it’s not who we play, it’s how we play that matters right now from here until the end,’ That’s the approach we have to take,” said Julien. “We can’t afford to not be prepared for games like this just because of their record right now, or what they’ve been going through. “I think it’s important if we want to be in those playoff spots that we are a team that’s ready to play on a nightly basis, and we’ve got to gain as many points as we can. So I think there are a lot of reasons for us not to take these kinds of situations lightly, and I think our guys responded well.”

There was very little to dislike about the win over lowly Arizona: Boston’s best players stepped up and scored goals with Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Zdeno Chara tallying the scores, the B’s managed to collect a power play goal with their groupings, Tuukka Rask was perfect until a late goal spoiled his shutout and the B’s defensemen were moving the puck with speed, aggression and plenty of spring in their legs.

It was a sight Rask definitely enjoyed as the Bruins closed out February with three wins in their last four games, and some pretty strong play since about midway through their shootout loss to the Oilers in Edmonton.

“It’s becoming the second nature we always talk about [that] I really like. I was watching the game last night on TV, and you can really see the difference when we move the puck D-to-D and up, and have a quick transition game,” said Rask, who made 31 saves after recovering from a stomach bug. “That’s what’s been lacking lot of times. They were just fore-checking, we’re back-checking, closing on guys quickly and all the little things that matter we’re doing. It’s tough, but we know that we have to keep doing it.”

The Bruins will hope to continue their winning ways after getting through the trade deadline and three days of practice before hosting the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

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