"We know what kind of team they are and how they play," said Hampus Lindholm. "But at the end of the day, and all season, it's been more about us. I think we know the stuff that we can improve on as of late here and keep building it. It's gonna be a long year so we need to talk about that process and keep learning from each game."
The Bruins have won three of their last four but have not been overly pleased with their overall efforts during the first three games of the homestand (2-0-1). With two games at TD Garden, followed a quick trip to New Jersey on Friday night, still on the docket ahead of the Christmas break, Boston is aiming to shore up their game in a number of areas.
"At the end of the day, it's about what we do out there as individuals and what we're going to accomplish here as a team," said Lindholm. "If we do all that, it will usually take care of itself out there. It's gonna be a fun challenge, a good team, we'll have to rise up to the challenge here."
Coach Jim Montgomery singled out the Bruins' penalty troubles as one of the larger areas of focus. Since December 3, Boston has taken 32 penalties, which is the fourth most in the NHL over that time. Overall, the Bruins have been assessed 138 penalties this season, the 10th most in the league.
"We do think it can be improved and it has to be improved," said Montgomery. "It's because when we check with our legs first, we don't take a lot of penalties. There's a lot of stick infractions in the offensive zone that we would like to eliminate. We don't get scored on when it's those instigator penalties when you're defending a teammate or when you're eliminating a scoring chance at the goal mouth, you kill those off. That's what we're looking at."
