The Bruins continued their trend of success before the National Hockey League broke for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, securing home wins over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday and the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

As they have done so often this season, the Bruins got off to a hot start on Tuesday versus the Canucks, scoring just five minutes and 12 seconds into the game. Center David Krejci broke down the right and fed left wing Milan Lucic at the back post. Lucic then blasted a left-handed shot into the roof of Canucks goalkeeper Roberto Luongo's net for a 1-0 advantage.

Lucic, a Vancouver native, saw the win as a response to a 6-2 loss to the Canucks in December.

"They beat us the last two times and also they had a pretty easy win against us back in December," he said. "So you know, it was nice to get that one against them after losing the last two."

The Bruins extended their lead when defenseman Zdeno Chara fed left wing Jarome Iginla at the far post, who then slotted the puck past Luongo with 12:01 remaining to hand the hosts a 2-0 edge.

The Canucks did not go away so easily though. In just three and a half minutes, Vancouver defenseman Raphael Diaz slipped a shot into the Bruins net to cut the lead in half.

Boston responded, though, with 2:54 left in the second period. when right wing Daniel Paille found himself one-on-one with Luongo. He successfully fired the puck past the visiting goalie to make it 3-1 heading into the third, a scoreline that held true for the remainder of the game.

Coming off of a tough road loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, the Bruins came back to TD Garden on Saturday for an impressive performance against the Ottawa Senators.

The Bruins pushed the pace from the beginning of the game and the pressure paid off at the 11:36 mark in the first period. Center Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal to record a lead that the Bruins would not relinquish.

After a second Bergeron goal at 4:55 of the second period to make the game 3-0, Boston faced its only real resistance on the day from Ottawa. Senators forward Bobby Ryan went uncontested down the left side of the ice and put a shot into the net to make the score 3-1 with 2:45 left in the period.

The comeback was short-lived, though, as only a minute later Iginla tipped in in a pass from Krejci to end any hopes of the Senators climbing back into the game.

The rout continued from there with three third-period goals registered by Lucic, left-wing Brad Marchand and left-wing Carl Soderberg. The goals made the final score 7-2 in favor of the Bruins.

The goal by Marchand was the winger's 19th of the season, the most by any member of the Bruins. Marchand is followed in team-leading goals by right-wing Reilly Smith, who enters the break with 18 goals, and a tie between Iginla and Lucic who both sit at 17 goals scored on the season. Smith picked up his 24th assist on Saturday.

Bergeron shared his mindset going into the extended break.

"The guys that have the break, [need] to rest and make sure they're ready when we get back," he said. "And for us going to Sochi, just keep obviously playing well and things will take care of itself."

The players weren't the only ones with Sochi on their minds, though, as the crowd at TD Garden issued a standing ovation amid footage of Bruins' defenseman Zdeno Chara in Sochi representing his home country of Slovakia.

After the hiatus, the Bruins return on Feb. 26 to a road match against the Buffalo Sabres.


-Daniel Kanovich and
Henry Loughlin