BOSTON — The Bruins rolled to another win Thursday night at the Garden, as their offense continued their onslaught with another half dozen goals in a 6-3 win over Edmonton.
But while the offense continues to pile up points, the performance of the defense may have been even more impressive, especially considering that blue-line corps lost one of its key members early in the second period.
Andrew Ference played just 12 shifts for 9:22, with only two of those shifts coming in the middle frame before he departed for the locker room early in the second. He did not return and Bruins coach Claude Julien did not have a lot of information on his status immediately after the game.
"Only that it's a lower-body injury right now," Julien said. "I don't know the severity of it, so that's all I can give you."
The remaining five members of the defense gave the Bruins plenty. Facing a speedy and skilled Edmonton attack, Boston's blueliners picked up the slack in Ference's absence. Zdeno Chara led all players with 28:34 of ice time and was a plus-1, while Johnny Boychuk played 23:26, his second-highest total of the season, and chipped in a goal, three shots and a game-high five blocked shots.
"We just needed to keep our shifts short, or try to at least," Boychuk said. "There was that one where I was out there for two minutes. Everybody had to step up. I had to play the left side a couple of times, which is out of the norm, but we found a way to only let them score one goal in those two periods [without Ference], so that's pretty good."
Chara, Boychuk and Dennis Seidenberg (23:10, plus-1, 2 blocked shots) are counted on to log big minutes, but the Bruins also got much-needed contributions from Joe Corvo and Adam McQuaid.
"It's in the back of your mind that you're going to have to reserve your energy and pick your spots," Corvo said of playing without Ference. "I thought we did a good job of managing our shifts and keeping our minutes down, although on that last power play I think guys got stuck out there. For the most part we tightened up."
McQuaid has struggled a bit to find his game since returning from a neck injury that sidelined him for four games in mid-October, but he was a steadying presence on defense on Thursday. He finished a plus-1 in 15:52 with a pair of blocked shots. Corvo, meanwhile, finally found his offensive game as he contributed three assists in 19:50.
"I thought Adam played much better tonight, his game is starting to come around," Julien said. "I thought Joe was really good and solid for us tonight as well. That was nice to see. Sometimes a little bit more ice like that and a little bit more pressure helps guys turn their game around, and those two guys showed that tonight."
Corvo had just four assists in 13 games coming into the night, and only one point in his previous seven games before breaking out on Thursday. He was even picking up helpers when he wasn't trying to pass, at least according to one teammate who won't quite remain anonymous.
"He was unbelievable," Boychuk said of Corvo. "He found guys. I think on the third one he was trying to shoot it, but you didn't hear that from me."
