Boston Bruins: 4 Keys to Wednesday's Matchup with the New Jersey Devils

Fittingly enough, as the Boston Bruins put their league-leading offense and defense through a fiery gauntlet of 12 games in 21 days, they begin with a visit to one of the NHL’s emerging teams in New Jersey.

The Devils have slithered into the playoff picture in the midst of their hottest stretch to date, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and 9-3-1 in their last 13.

The Hall of Fame-bound Martin Brodeur has shaken off initial struggles from earlier in the year and will scrape his team’s blue paint Wednesday night having gone 3-0-1 in his previous four outings. Although he still bears a sub-.900 save percentage on the year, he has repelled 80 of 85 shots in the last week.

Come the 7:30 p.m. EST puck-drop, Boston will be four nights removed from a self-inflicted setback in Dallas. In the interim, the New York Rangers have surpassed the Bruins for tops in the Eastern Conference and for the NHL’s best winning percentage.

Boston can restore its supremacy in the latter category if it masters the following items against the Devils on Wednesday.

Holiday Over

Since their 8-0 throttling of the Florida Panthers two nights prior to Christmas, the Bruins have sprinkled two games over a span of 11 nights. Yet in those two games, the only skaters to impress have been David Krejci (goal, two assists) and Dennis Seidenberg (goal, assist).

Six other forwards have logged one point over those two sporadic contests and the rest of the blue line has been arid.

With this much rest and that little productivity in the interim, Boston’s best-case scenario has the strike force raring to pop open its collective carbonation in the coming marathon.

Playing to Their Strength

Two not-so-stunning revelations: The Bruins are still the most regal five-on-five club in the NHL and the Devils, who are incidentally among in the lower third in terms of even-strength success, have the best penalty-killing brigade.

Boston can trust its power play a little more than it did in the recent past, but New Jersey could manufacture some rich momentum for itself with a couple of successful kills. Before that potentiality arises, the Bruins must stock up a reliable insurance policy by burying a few five-on-five goals.

And the earlier they do that, the better. Lately, most of New Jersey’s games have gone to whoever tunes the mesh first and holds the opposition scoreless through one or two intermissions.

Puck Control

With the regular-season schedule still not half-over, the Devils already boast seven forwards with 10 goals or more. Defenseman Adam Larsson has charged up 11 assists.

On the flipside, with the exception of rookie Adam Henrique and Petr Sykora, five of those forwards are in the plus/minus red, including Ilya Kovalchuk (minus-10) and top goal-getter David Clarkson (minus-nine).

In his last six outings, Dainius Zubrus has scraped out two points, landed six shots on goal and been on the ice for six opposing strikes, including three of the last four. Top point-getter Patrik Elias has been in action for each of the last four goals New Jersey has authorized.

Perhaps most tellingly, though, the Devils have allowed a whopping nine short-handed goals, at least four more than any other team.

The more one lets the Devils’ top forwards carry the play, the more one risks getting burned. Conversely, the more one controls the puck and puts the same group of New Jersey skaters on the backcheck, the better one’s chances of exploiting their defensive seams.

Restoring Momentum

While they are well-advised not to look directly ahead of Wednesday night’s third-period buzzer, the Bruins will want to push themselves in this game for the sake of riding into Thursday’s home date with Calgary on a high note.

If a dud like Saturday’s Dallas clash needed to happen, that was probably the right time for it. But now the games are coming in bunches with the Flames waiting at TD Garden for Thursday and the Vancouver Canucks dropping in on Saturday.

One demoralizing effort now could have a domino effect for the better part of the near future. The opposite could have a snowball effect.

It's not quite an all-or-nothing option, but it's close enough.