"I think that we're allowed to sit back and really reflect and be happy about what we've accomplished," Bruins center Gregory Campbell said. "Having said that, it's not even the midway point of the season. It almost is but it's a long season and there's a lot of ups and downs throughout the season and I think we learned a lot in the playoffs last year as a team. And I think we learned a lot in the first month about our team."
The Bruins weren't doing much celebrating on Halloween. They had managed just three wins in their first 10 games and ended October sitting in dead last in the East after being swept in a home-and-home series by Montreal.
But Thanksgiving was a little more enjoyable, as the Bruins won 10 straight games going into that holiday to turn their season around. And Christmas was even better, with Boston riding another six-game win streak after Friday's 8-0 rout of Florida.
"We didn't get down," Campbell said. "We stayed together in this room. We didn't get divided. A lot of times when you hit adversity, things start going poorly and you start pointing fingers and that never happened. We realized that it was our responsibility to get back to the team that we are. We worked really hard, came to work every day — practice, game, whatever — and stuck to the system. So like I said, it's fair for us to appreciate what we've done but it's also I think realistic to know, and I think the guys in this dressing room know, there's a long way to go and every night's a fight and you have to compete every night in this league."
The Bruins now sit atop the Eastern Conference with 47 points, having posted a 20-2-1 record since the start of November. They have the most wins in the NHL and lead in just about every significant statistical category.
Boston has allowed the fewest goals in the league with just 63, good for a league-best 1.88 team goals-against average. At the same time, the Bruins' oft-maligned offense has produced the most goals in the league with 119, also good for an NHL-best 3.52 per game. Combined, that gives the Bruins a plus-56 goal differential this season, far and away the best in the league, with Detroit a distant second at plus-33.
"I think it goes to show that we have probably more talent than maybe sometimes people give us credit for," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We play a good team game, we create our scoring chances and right now our guys are scoring some pretty nice goals. When you look at [Brad] Marchand's last goal [on Friday], he made sure he picked the top corner and didn't just throw it at the net. Our guys are bearing down on the scoring chances, and that's helping us a lot. But you know there's a good element of grit, speed and skill in our game and that's what makes us a decent team."
The Bruins have been a lot more than decent. They have no major holes in their game. They've maintained their domination at even strength, leading the league once again with 84 goals while 5-on-5.
But they have also thrived on special teams. Boston's penalty kill is second in the league at 88.9 percent, while the power play, the Bruins' Achilles' heel last season, is suddenly a very respectable 10th in the NHL at 19.4 percent.
Numbers-wise, the Bruins still lack dominant individual performers on offense. Tyler Seguin leads the team with 31 points, but that ranks him just tied for 28th in the league scoring race. Linemate Marchand leads the team with 15 goals after his first career hat trick on Friday, but that has him tied for just 15th in the league in that category.
That only makes the Bruins more dangerous, though. They don't have just one or two stars, or one line, that opposing defenders can focus on shutting down. Boston rolls four lines and all are capable of inflicting damage. The Bruins have nine players with 20 or more points already — plus two more in double digits — and that depth has been one of the keys to their success.
Boston has scored six or more goals nine times this season, and has four or more goals in 17 of its 33 games. The Bruins have yet to allow more than four goals in a single game, and have held opponents to two or fewer in 22 of 33 games.
"It's been a lot of fun," Marchand said. "It makes it a lot easier to come to the rink every day when we're winning the way we are. It just shows that we're a contender again. Everyone comes to the rink every day and does their job and is excited about it. It's been an up-and-down season so far, but hopefully we can ride this high and continue to have fun."
Other than the constant specter of injuries that looms over every team in a sport as physical as hockey, there's not much threatening to derail this run the Bruins are on. They are not a team simply on a hot streak or relying on anyone playing over their heads. They are playing their game within a system they've honed, which is extremely difficult to beat.
That said, the Bruins aren't letting their success go to their heads, remaining grounded and determined to continue putting in the work that has gotten them to this point.
"You feel good about yourself, obviously we feel good about our game," Campbell said. "Not only the score, but just the way we played. We're a pretty confident group right now, but I don't think we're cocky or arrogant. We're confident in ourselves and what we can do."
And they expect to do even more.
"We're feeling good about ourselves," center Patrice Bergeron said. "We're confident, but we can't, and we always said it before, we can't be satisfied. It's something that's very important, and we talked about the fact that [Friday] was, with the holiday starting, a huge game, and we had to bear down. We did that, and now we have a couple days to rest and make sure we're ready for the second half of the season, because it's going to get tougher."
