Remember those early-season games against San Jose and Montreal? You know, the two games that came on the tail end of the opponents' back-to-backs? The ones that the Bruins lost in rather humiliating fashion?
Yeah, that doesn't seem to be an issue anymore.
Boston spotted Buffalo a one-goal lead on Thomas Vanek's headsy play from behind the net early on, and laid on the gas in the second and third periods, scoring three times in each frame to win in another blowout, snapping the Sabres' four-game win streak and extending their own to five games.
Tyler Seguin netted two goals and Brad Marchand and Rich Peverley had highlight-reel markers to bookend the Bruins' scoring, but the highlight of the night came when Milan Lucic misplayed the puck on a partial breakaway, drawing Sabres' netminder Ryan Miller out of the crease and into harm's way or, as it's better known around TD Garden these days, Lucic's path of destruction.
The big winger knocked Miller's helmet off and sent the goaltender to the ice, but it set the tone for the rest of the night, which would see the Bruins manhandle the Sabres, despite often sloppy play by both teams in the neutral zone.
Marchand and Seguin continued to fine-tune their bromance, as Marchand set up Seguin's first goal on a slow-motion play that seemed to take forever to develop.
"I think he was looking to shoot and I was kind of expecting a shot and he fooled everyone I guess, including me, and put it on my tape and I just tapped it in," said Seguin, very matter-of-factly.
Seguin's improvement on the ice has been evident this year, but his candor in front of the media is something else that's grown by leaps and bounds, and all of it is showing this year.
Would the Bruins have liked to get off to a better start? Sure.
"You’ve got to remember that they played last night," said Claude Julien. "This is a big game, and they played last night, they came in late, so technically, we should have had the edge,"
But getting the edge later is better than the alternative, especially if you're asking Tim Thomas, which somebody was after the game.
"What first goal? Who cares about the first goal?"
Clearly, when you can score six every night, not the Bruins.