The Bruins were concluding a hard week. They had two tough but necessary practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. They played the Ducks and Rangers, who were the top teams in their respective conferences at the time. By Sunday, the Bruins’ third game in four days, the wear of the week had taken its toll.

By Sunday’s second period, the Bruins’ legs were fading. The Hurricanes settled into their speed game and launched odd-man rushes. In the third period, Carolina’s Justin Faulk and Jeff Skinner pinged pucks off posts.

“When you play top teams in the league like Anaheim and the New York Rangers, we had to play big,” said coach Claude Julien. “You could feel it a little bit. Shifts were short. I had to use my whole bench. At the end of the day, it’s about finding ways to win. It’s about results right now.”

With Sunday’s 2-1 overtime win, the three-game segment was almost completely successful. The Bruins took 5 out of 6 points. The only blemish was an overtime loss to Anaheim — a controversial one at that, given the Bruins’ belief that Corey Perry interfered with Tuukka Rask on the last-minute game-tying goal.


The Bruins started the week in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, 1 point behind Ottawa. They are now 3 points ahead of the Senators and in control of their postseason destiny. They have 89 points, just 3 back of the sixth-place Red Wings and seventh-place Capitals.

A week is all it takes to change a team’s plans from setting tee times to printing playoff tickets. This is the National Parity League.

“It definitely feels good now,” Milan Lucic said. “We’re having a lot more fun now than a week ago. I think that desperation and that commitment have to stay in our game if we want to continue moving forward.”


The Bruins weren’t sure they were capable of this kind of push. They were stuck in an 0-3-2 slide. Two of the losses qualified as dreadful: zero-resistance, holes-everywhere nightmares against Ottawa and Tampa Bay. The Bruins’ forecheck was late. They played like turnstiles in the neutral zone. By the time the Senators and Lightning approached the offensive blue line, it was too late. The Bruins couldn’t counter either team’s speed or skill. Rask had no chance.

The five-game downturn was consistent with the Bruins’ identity. This is a peaks-and-valleys team that has shown volatility all year. There have been heady highs and gloomy lows. It’s not a healthy way to play. Coaches prefer consistency, not unpredictability.

Had the Bruins continued to play that way, they would have tumbled down the standings. So they committed themselves to playing the right way: forechecking well, jamming up the neutral zone, backchecking with purpose, and keeping tight gaps.

When they follow these principles, everything becomes easier. Rask doesn’t have to sweat two-on-ones or unchallenged net-front rippers. Opponents cough up the puck. This allows the Bruins to manufacture speed and get to their rush game by turning defense into offense.

“This was a big week for us,” Chris Kelly said after Sunday’s win. “I thought we played well in all three games. Today, they outplayed us in the second period. But I thought we responded well in the third.’’

“We didn’t give up too much. It was a big goal in overtime.


“The Anaheim game, I thought we checked really well. That’s a good team. Thirty seconds and we have 2 points in that game. The Rangers game, we started out well. We were able to get a lead and we continued to push the pace and play well.

“Everyone’s contributing at some point regardless of what it is.”

Help is coming. Brett Connolly (finger) could play before the end of the regular season. So could Dougie Hamilton (undisclosed). The Bruins will welcome reinforcements. They’ve been going hard all month. This will continue into April.

In this league, no lead is safe. The Panthers, who visit Tuesday, are 4 points behind the Bruins. The teams play once more, in the Bruins’ second-to-last game. The Bruins know that a little breathing room is no reason to ease off the gas.

“It’s a good feeling,” said Kelly. “But we know we’re in a dogfight right until the end.

“That’s kind of our mind-set each game. It’s a terrible cliché, but it’s the situation we’re in: one game at a time. We can’t look too far ahead.”

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.