The Bruins (30-23-6, 66 points) victory on Sunday broke an NHL trend that had seen the past ten teams lose in their first game following the bye week.
Interim Head Coach Bruce Cassidy's team played an inspired brand of hockey en route to their fourth win in four games under their new leader. Despite his success, the undefeated coach is deflecting the credit for the positive attitude in the locker room.
"When you have your ups, you tend to be a little more enthusiastic about coming to the rink and when things don't go well, then everyone gets a little more guarded," said Cassidy.
Cassidy's pursuit for a fifth straight win goes through a talented Ducks team looking to reassert dominance after a 3-2 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
"All three pairs are going to have to do their job," Cassidy said of the B's backend. "Like I said, they've got threats on every line."
Cassidy feels that his team should be even better in Anaheim now that they are one game and three practices removed from the bye week, and with a better grasp on the standings now that teams initially with games in hand have gotten caught up.
"Yes. I do feel that we've had some time to practice and review a few things, in terms of our system. If you look at the standings, some teams are starting to catch up to us in games played, so we're getting to be even with them in the home stretch," said Cassidy.
Though the players welcomed the bye week, Adam McQuaid stressed the importance of the team's two practice days in between Sunday and Wednesday's games.
"It's good to be able to get a few consecutive days of practice," said McQuaid. "As you've seen, it's not always easy coming back from the breaks, especially the way it's set up with other teams staying in the groove. But it was good to be able to find a way to get the win last game, and you hope that little bit of time pays off."
Coach Cassidy did give a nod of approval to his team's warmer place of residence the past few days.
"To be out in California," he said, "is not a bad thing either."
