For Claude Julien and the Boston Bruins, Saturday night’s loss in Toronto just may have been the tipping point. Falling by a 3-2 final despite holding the Maple Leafs to just 13 shots on the night, the defeat was the Bruins’ third in four games, and came with yet another no-show from the top-line and slumping wingers Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic.

When it came to the struggling B’s, stuck in neutral known as fourth place in the Eastern Conference, it was clear that something had to change from within, at least before the Apr. 3 trading deadline.

A spirited Sunday practice brought some changes, and adjustments that included bumping Lucic, with zero goals in his 14 games, down to the club’s third line with Jordan Caron and center Rich Peverley, and a Monday night showdown between the two Original Six franchises saw Julien stick to his guns, completing the swaps that also included a Brad Marchand (one goal in ten games) move to the David Krejci line with Horton, and Danny Paille bump to the Patrice Bergeron line with Tyler Seguin.

But Julien’s changes appeared to be for naught for the first 28 minutes of tonight’s season-series finale between the Bruins and Leafs in the Hub.

Skating to a 0-0 draw after a first period that saw the Bruins throw nine shots on the 24-year-old James Reimer, the Leafs offense continued its recent decimation of Boston goaltending when Joffrey Lupul struck on the power-play, tallying his fourth goal of the year. And just like on Saturday, the Toronto edge was extended to two just six minutes later when Nikolai Kulemin capitalized on a breakaway following a pass from Nazem Kadri, beating the 26-year-old Rask for his fifth goal of the year and extending Kadri’s point-streak to five games.

In yet another 2-0 hole to the Maple Leafs, the Bruins didn’t pack the crucial second period in like they did at the Air Canada Centre, instead responding with a fast and furious attack from … Milan Lucic?!

Receiving a great pass from Peverley, the slumping winger turned the jets fans have longed to see out of his blades on, and beat Ryan Hamilton and defensemen Cody Franson before putting the puck under and by Reimer for his fifth goal of the year, and first since Feb. 24. Putting an end to a 14-game goal drought, and bringing Boston back from the dead, a raucous TD Garden crowd felt this one turning back in the Bruins’ favor, despite the 2-1 deficit after 40.

Kicking the third period off with a successful kill following a hook against Patrice Bergeron, No. 37 made up for his rare transgressions, and capitalized on a great behind the net dish from Dougie Hamilton with a backhander that beat Reimer and brought the B’s and Leafs back even. Good for the 19-year-old Hamilton’s first point in ten games, and setting the stage for a bang-and-crash final ten minutes of play, the Bruins and Leafs exchanged everything but goals, and found themselves playing in a three-point affair at the Garden.

But as the mind wanted to carry on for both of these clubs, the bodies could not, and this one ultimately found its way to a shootout, where the Bruins’ Tyler Seguin kicked things off with a goal, only to be countered by the Leafs’ Tyler Bozak before Bergeron struck once again, this time in the top of the second in the shootout. Putting the pressure on the Leafs’ Kadri, the shot went just wide, leaving the clincher on the stick of Brad Marchand. It was not to be -- for the moment.

Forcing Kulemin to play the hero in the bottom of the third, the Bruins’ Rask had a read the whole time, stoning Kulemin, and earning his first victory since Mar. 14.

Not clutch? Rask responds with big stops on comeback trail

At my core, I think it’s natural for Bruins fans to be hesitant towards any goaltender not named Tim Thomas. For most, he’s been the face of this era of B’s hockey, and he’s really by all means been the only one you could trust. Whether they were down, up, or fighting for survival, you always knew that Thomas would turn it up a notch to deliver the game-changing stop.

So when last week’s struggles seemed to raise the question as to the mental makeup of Tuukka Rask, I couldn’t help but understand. Please note that I also couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

Despite the struggles that brought Rask two straight losses before riding the pine as the backup for two straight contests, there’s no denying the idea that the Finnish-born netminder has been among the league’s elite in 2013. “But is he clutch?!” everyone wondered.

Well, if we’re to believe that we’re living in this moment and that everything we’re experiencing is in fact real, then yes, Tuukka Rask can be called a clutch goaltender for the Boston Bruins.

While undoubtedly easy to harp on Rask’s start to the night, allowing two goals on ten shots, the response by No. 40 was worth watching again and again. Stonewalling the Leafs on their final 15 shots of the night, and responding by stopping the final two Toronto shooters in the shootout, this was Rask’s game to win, and he did.

“Tuukka to me has been good and he’s never been bad, he’s been great and he’s been good. But you know, we’ve gotten some pretty good games out of him and I don’t think we can necessarily point the finger at him for losing any games for us this year,” Julien said of Rask’s perceived struggles, particularly from worried fans and media types. “I don’t know, I think it’s one of those things that everybody reads it whichever way they can. And you know that from the goaltender last year.”

Sealing the deal on his 15th win in just 22 starts this year, the 26-year-old Rask, now with the league’s second-best goals against average (1.90) and save-percentage (.928), it’s probably time for fans to relax and let Tuukka show you what he can do, as it’s been a pretty productive sampling in 2013.

Lucic wakes up from month-long nap, skates with heart in win

I’d like to think that I’ve been nothin’ but fair when it comes to my dissection of Milan Lucic the hockey player. When he’s on, he’s this division’s premier power-forward, if not the entire league’s. But when he’s off, my goodness is it an absolute nightmare to watch. Unfortunately for the B’s, it’s been far more of the latter from the 24-year-old winger this season, and that’s cause for concern.

It’s simply undeniable that the Bruins are a force when Lucic is playing his game. A Lucic game simply means that he’s skating hard in all three zones, hitting everything in sense, and imposing the will that comes with being a 6-foot-4 forward with the ability to mash anybody with his fist or body. As simple as that sounds, it’s been borderline impossible for No.17.

But a bump down to Earth, skating a straight-line game that comes with third line duty, the results broke finally came for Lucic, and it resulted in one of the winger’s strongest efforts of the game, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the Garden crowd and his teammates.

“There’s not very many guys who can probably stop him. That’s nice that he got part of his game going, and he got rewarded for that, scoring a really nice goal,” B’s captain Zdeno Chara said of Lucic, who finished the game with a goal and a plus-2 rating in addition to being robbed of a third star honors. “It’s not always as easy to be done and said, and I’m sure he knows that. Once he saw he scored a goal, all of the sudden he was doing it every other shift and it was really working. Sometimes little things like that will spark the whole body and all of the sudden he just gets going, and that’s great.”

Wrapping up the night back with familiar faces David Krejci and Nathan Horton, the improvement and undeniable awakening from Lucic has shown promise, but needs to remain a steady part of the hulking forward’s game if the Bruins are to turn this win into a winning streak.

It’s really as simple as that.

“With Milan, it’s all about his feet,” Julien said in his postgame address. “When his feet are moving and when he uses his speed, not just on the goal, but a couple other times there, he really took the puck to the outside and tried to cut back in. Either he’s going to get those chances or create some power plays for us, by getting them to drag him down. But, he’s big, he’s strong, and when he uses his speed he’s certainly that much more of a player.”

Message sent, and delivered. For now.

Leafs can hang -- so long as it’s not in the shootout

People don’t wanna believe it, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are legitimate. They can score, they can defend, and they can ‘tend those nets. Even when it’s against those damned Boston Bruins!

I know, it’s hard to say or read without doubting me, but I swear that it’s true!

Well, unless it’s the shootout. Inexplicably seeming to play for the shootout during tonight’s overtime frame in Boston, the Leafs were forced to their fourth shootout of the year, where they ultimately fell short for you guessed it, the fourth time. But it hasn’t been for a lack of trying on behalf of the Leafs’ goaltending duo of Ben Scrivens and Reimer. No, they’ve done their job. It’s actually the Leafs’ seemingly potent lineup of danglers that have left them out to dry in 2013.

Courtesy of Twitter friend Jeff Veillette (@Jeffler), outside of Tyler Bozak, Toronto shooters are 0-for-17 in the skills competition this year. That’s zero goals on 17 shots! Zero! Not even one just said “Hey I know you meant to shoot me here, but I’m gonna go here and in instead.” Nothing!

That’s borderline unheard of.

Up next...

It’s time for Rivalry Wednesday, with the Montreal Canadiens making their final visit of the year to the Hub for the fourth meeting of the season between these neck-and-neck Northeast Division rivals.

Montreal won the last meeting between these two in Boston, and will come to the Garden on the second leg of a back-to-back on the road that begins tomorrow night in Pittsburgh.

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