Bruins say they have to be better to keep besting Leafs

Lucic/By S. Bradley

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Through three meetings with Toronto this season, the Bruins are 3-0-0 and have outscored the Maple Leafs 19-5.

So heading into tomorrow night’s clash of the Northeast Division rivals, the key for Boston is to not let the aggregate scores fool them into thinking they are that much more superior than the Leafs. After all, the Leafs are only one point behind them in the standings and will be out for revenge at the TD Garden.

The Bruins, who won at the Air Canada Centre, 6-3, Wednesday, practiced today at Ristuccia Arena with preparations for Toronto on their minds.

“I think they’re a team with a lot of pride. They obviously don’t enjoy losing to us the first three meetings of the season,” said forward Milan Lucic. “So they’re going to come out and try to bring a little bit more. We’ve got to expect that. And I think we’ve got to want to bring more as well. I felt like there was a lot of lulls in our game. Even though we did win 6-3, I felt like there was some lulls in our game that we need to touch up on because if we keep making some of the mistakes that we did last game, it will definitely wind up in the back of the net more so than it did last game.”

There were several pivotal moments in the Bruins’ victory Wednesday that could’ve gone either way and favored the Bruins, including a Phil Kessel breakaway that ended with a Tim Thomas save.

Center Chris Kelly knows the Bruins have to tighten up their play to avoid a home-ice defeat.

“Certain puck management and just little things. Not turning the puck over,” said Kelly about the areas the Bruins need to improve. “Just little things that when we’re playing well for 60 minutes we’re not doing and when we’re not, those tendencies creep back into our game.”

The Bruins should be healthy, as everyone — 12 forwards, six defensemen, two goaltenders — practiced today and made it through the session. There’s a chance Jordan Caron and Steven Kampfer will re-join the Bruins as well Saturday after playing for the Providence (AHL) farm club tonight.