I think the Boston Bruins were just what the doctor ordered for the lackluster-so-far Carolina Hurricanes in 2 respects. First, they bring a physical brand of hockey that gives you no choice but to dial up your intensity and jam or otherwise be crushed under the weight of it. But at the same time, this is a Bruins team that is not playing its best yet and is struggling to finds its legs for this season after a short summer. When you add it up, you get a team that helps you increase your pace and intensity but is pretty beatable at least at this juncture of the season.

And the win itself was far from a high-quality repeatable model. The Canes took 5 bad penalties between 2 too many men and 3 neutral zone penalties against players in no position to create a scoring chance anytime soon. Staal was invisible enough with a minus 1, 0 shots on goal and a 36.8% faceoff win percentage that I found myself twice checking the bench to make sure he was there. And as good as Cam Ward was overall, the Seguin goal from below the faceoff circle short side right after the Canes opened up a 2-0 lead is 1 you would like to stop and keep the game from turning into a nail-biter.

But with the team trying to get its feet under it at this early point in the season, you gladly take 2 points against the defending champs and look at the good things. And there were some:

--Jay Harrison and Bryan Allen logged 12 blocked shots between them with the majority in key spots on the penalty kill that was perfect.

--Aside from the bad high-sticking penalty at center ice, Jiri Tlusty had a really solid game even before the 3rd period goal. He had a couple good scoring chances and played a solid defensive game making good, simple plays in all 3 zones.

--Just maybe they are starting to find a bit of line chemistry. I thought Tlusty-Sutter-Dwyer looked good especially defensively late. And the 4th line of Stewart-Brent-Dalpe played much of their shifts in the offensive zone and even notched a goal. Wednesday was not a great night for the scoring lines, but you take offense where you can get it right now.

--Cam Ward was solid early and held the fort long enough for the team to climb ahead and build confidence.

--While not perfect, the defense was better. Jamie McBain had a bit of an up and down game but was an upgrade over Faulk, and I already mentioned the efforts of Allen and Harrison. Joni Pitkanen notched a huge goal and also had a solid night defensively. If you think about the 2 goals allowed, I think you could make the case on the 1st and maybe even the 2nd that the defense did okay giving up a tough angle shot to the outside. The Seguin shot was a rocket, but from that angle you don't have to react to it so much as just get the shoulder to the post and play the angle correctly.

--The pace and decisiveness. Most significantly, the pace, intensity and decisiveness with the puck even when things went a little astray were a huge step up compared to anything we have seen so far this season. The last 5 minutes of the 1st period were the team's best short stretch of hockey this season, and at least in terms of pace and fight the game as a whole was far better than any of the other 3 in total.

While the full game is not a model for full season success, there are definitely positives to build on and more than anything the Canes pick up a needed 2 points in the standings.

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Go Canes!

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