If there’s one way to start the hardest part of your schedule, that’s it. 

The Bruins came into Thursday night’s game — the first of a five-game stretch against teams with at least 60 points — with two problems that had carried over from the first half: They didn’t play well in front of Tuukka Rask (the 23-year-old carried a 4-10-1 record despite having a .923 save percentage), and they had yet to beat to beat a Western Conference team at the Garden (0-2-2). Those are two pretty big problems, especially if the team plans on getting as much mileage as possible out of both of its goaltenders and wants to host a Western Conference team in June. 

It was a game that clearly had some bad blood remaining between the teams and its players. Gregory Campbell just happened to line up at right wing on the opening faceoff and drop the gloves with Steve Ott, who cheap-shotted him two years ago. But the Bruins took a big step Thursday toward crossing out their struggles vs. Western teams and inability to win in front of Rask with a 6-3 victory (click here for the recap). 

“It was huge, and we talked about it before the game. We realized that we had to compete against the West as well as we’ve been doing against the East, and [Thursday] was a good effort,” Patrice Bergeron, who led the Bruins with two goals, said following the game. 

“As for [Rask], he’s always given us a chance to win. The numbers are unbelievable, his save percentage is up there. He’s doing everything right to get those wins, and it’s us in front of him who need to do a better job. I think we did that.”

The matchup of a couple of guys once traded for one another in Rask and Andrew Raycroft was short-lived, as the B’s made it 2-0 on two shots just 1:20 into the game. Stars coach Marc Crawford yanked Raycroft after the second goal — the first of Bergeron’s two tallies on the night — but it wasn’t about the opposing goalie. It was about the B’s standing in their dressing room following a game with Rask in net and a team from the West on the other room and talking about a big win. While Rask certainly was not at his sharpest throughout the night, he has generally been on this season while his teammates have been off. Often left to vent their frustrations with their play in front of the 23-year-old, the Bruins were able to reward Rask Thursday. 

“Last year, Tuukka had a phenomenal year, and this year every time we played in front of him, we haven’t really given him that much help,” Johnny Boychuk said after the game. “[Thursday], he made it easier for us, because they could have been in that game if it wasn’t for him.”

NO USE IN DEFENDING THE PAILLE HIT

Daniel Paille can expect a suspension after his second-period blindside hit on Raymond Sawada in the Bruins zone left the Dallas forward down on the ice and the B's forward tossed from the game. The call was changed from being a match penalty when it was deemed that there wasn’t intent to injure on Paille’s part, but it is exactly the type of play the league is trying to get rid of. Not surprisingly, Paille was not available to the media following the game, but given this team’s history of being victimized by blindside hits (last March’s hit from Matt Cooke seemingly is still hurting Marc Savard’s chances at being the same player he used to be), credit defenseman Andrew Ference for being honest. 

“I mean it’s a bad hit, right? That’s what they’re trying to get rid of, and you can’t be hypocritical about it when it happens to you and say it’s fine when your teammate does it,” Ference said. “It’s a hit they’re trying to get rid of. I mean, you hear it from every player after they do it, they feel bad, and same thing. 

“I talked to Danny and he feels bad. … He hurt the guy, and I’m sure he’ll have a conversation.”

While Bruins teammates and coach Claude Julien all seemed to give Paille the benefit of the doubt as to whether he meant to harm Sawada, nobody came out and called it a clean hit. It’s a good thing they didn’t, as Ference hit the nail on the head when it comes to assessing such a play. The Bruins have seen what these types of hits can do to a player and a career. They don’t want them to happen, regardless of who commits them. 

“Obviously, if it is a head shot, then the league's going to take care of it. I know [Paille] doesn't mean to do that. But at the same time, if the guy's in a bad spot, we need to make sure we're smart and avoid their heads. 

“You never want to see them on either side. On my side, on their side. I was happy that the guy got up and seemed OK.”

Sawada did not return to the game. 

MUCH-NEEDED BOOST FOR SEGUIN

Maybe some tend to get carried away with the highs and lows of Tyler Seguin’s rookie season. When a kid is as highly touted and clearly skilled as he is, sometimes it’s hard not to go gift-wrap the bad, but it happens. 

Thursday night was trending toward a night in which it would be hard to say anything overly positive about the 19-year-old. He had a lot to do with Karlis Skrastin’s second-period goal, as he did nothing between he and Adam Burish in the Bruins zone before Burish hit Skrastin with a pass. With the B's leading, 4-1, Seguin was a minus-1. Two days after Seguin received just 6:37 of playing time, it was looking like he was headed for another mediocre night, and one in which his streak without a point would reach 10 games. 

Then he scored one of the biggest goals of the game. With the Bruins having seen a 4-0 lead be shortened to 4-3 via three unanswered goals from the Stars, Seguin beat Kari Lehtonen — who replaced Raycroft — at 5:31 of the third to give the Bruins their first goal since the first period and breathing room they desperately needed.

“He hadn’t scored in a while and it was a nice goal. I thought he made some nice plays tonight and I thought he was skating well tonight, played with some good confidence,” Julien said. “He’s a young guy that we want to see continue to progress. [Thursday] was one of those good nights for him.”

It’s been a process for Seguin, to be sure. Timely goals will undoubtedly lead to confidence, which the Bruins can only hope will lead to more timely goals.