Ending Road Trip on Positive Note

The B’s jumped out to 2-0 first period leads against both Tampa Bay and Florida - something they hadn’t had the luxury of doing consistently in their start to the season that saw them become a third-period comeback team. The 4-1 win over the Panthers marked their first three-goal cushion (albeit, with an empty-netter) this year.

“It’s always nice to get a bit of a cushion and it’s even better to score first,” said Coach Julien. “It’s a pretty impressive when you look around the league at teams that score first.”

“We’ve been challenged a little bit in that area since the beginning of the year and lately we’ve been better. Good starts are crucial in this league. If you want to stick with your game plan, you play with the lead and if you don’t you then a lot of time you start pressing and that’s when things start to unravel.”

“I think we’re a pretty focused group right now,” Chris Kelly said following morning skate, on the team’s determination, coming off a solid two-win swing through Florida. “It’s a cliche, but one game at a time. We know we’re behind in games, we want to stay in the mix, but other teams have played a few more games than us. We want to make sure we keep playing well.”

“We want to come out and have a good start and build off that tonight.”

Read the full pregame feature story at the link above or by clicking here.