Milan Lucic is not Cam Neely. 

Sure, that statement may come off as raining on Lucic’s parade, but it is intended to be a call to view the Boston power forward as his own player. After becoming a 30 goal-scorer at 22 years of age, doesn’t he deserve it?

The comparisons to Neely have long been based on a combination of three things: Lucic’s physicality, his scoring touch and a tendency among people in New England to get carried away. If you strip away all the comparisons and all the votes on hockeyfights.com, it’s pretty plain to see that what Lucic is putting together is pretty darn good without any added hoopla.

“You could always see it. His shot has always been big,” Shawn Thornton said following the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Devils on Tuesday. “He’s a huge, strong guy and he gets a little bit more room than other guys because he is so tough and so big and strong. I think him playing with [Nathan] Horton and [David] Krejci, it looks like they are having a lot of fun out there too. I think that is the big thing. He has developed into a heck of a hockey player.”

Lucic provides the Bruins with their first 30-goal scorer since Phil Kessel had 36 in the 2008-09 season. It took Lucic four seasons to get to this point, and he didn’t even think it would come as soon as it did. Entering the season, he eyed the 20-goal plateau as a realistic goal, as he had never tallied 20 in any of his first three seasons. 

While Lucic entered the league with positive impressions in his first two seasons, the 6-foot-3 winger was limited to just 50 games last season, and it was natural to wonder whether his development had taken a hit due to time missed in the regular season. As a result, Lucic aimed for 20, or three goals more than his career-high in 2008-09. He ended up accomplishing that feat prior to the All-Star break, and has now surprised himself with 30.

“It’s a big milestone for me to hit… I never imagined that I’d get to this milestone so quickly, but it just goes to show how hard I’ve worked to get myself in this position,” Lucic said. “It’s great to get rewarded for it.”

Lucic said that one thing he learned from last season was to not set such lofty goals and constantly monitor them. 

“I wasn’t really thinking about it, to be perfectly honest, going into this year,” he said. “I was just thinking about everything one game at a time, one goal at a time, one assist at a time, one shift at a time. 

“Last year, going into the season, I kind of looked at the big picture, and it didn’t work out for me. This year, I just focused on getting myself healthy again and just worrying about what I have to do tomorrow. Not the whole year. That’s worked for me so far, and I’m happy that I hit that 30-goal milestone.”

Lucic has done it playing the aggressive sort of game he embraces. He really enjoys playing on a line with a similarly skilled player in Nathan Horton, noting that the two feed off each other hours before the game starts. While Horton was the more likely candidate to score 30 back in the preseason, nobody seems surprised to see Lucic doing it.

“Anybody who scores thirty in this league is a pretty good player,” Claude Julien said following the game. “And he’s playing his type of game as well.”

Lucic might not ever be a 50-goal scorer like Neely was three times, and might not drop the gloves as often as Neely did in some of those seasons in the late 1980’s, but the Bruins have one of the best young power forwards in the game. That, unlike the Neely comparisons, is undebatable.

“The way he developed was something special,” Patrice Bergeron said after the game. “It seems like he keeps improving. He is still young. I don’t think he’s finished growing yet and getting better as a player.”

PLAYING ‘BRUINS HOCKEY AGAIN’

Admit it – you were scared when the Devils came out flying and the Bruins came out much like they had the last seven games. New Jersey jumped out to a 12-1 shots on goal advantage and scored the game’s first goal. From there, the B’s took over.

“To me, that’s as hard as I had seen a team come out tonight,” Julien said following the game. “They were skating really well, they were on top of us, not giving us as much space. Obviously they knew, knowing Jacques [Lemaire], I’m pretty sure that was their game plan because they probably felt that we were a little fragile there with what’s been happening.”

The Bruins are by no means out of the woods, as they entered the night riding an ugly 1-3-3 stretch. Still, they gained control of a game against a very good team (one that would likely make the playoffs were it not for an abysmal first three months of the season).

“It felt like we played Bruins hockey again. Obviously, it wasn’t the best start for ourselves,” Lucic said. “The first 10 minutes we only had one shot, and after they got their first power play goal, we sort of kicked it into gear, and we started getting pucks behind them and winning battles like we used to. That was the reason why we were able to generate four goals today.”

BUFFALO COMES UP BIG

If anyone tells you it isn’t scoreboard-watching season, they’re lying to you. The practice in monitoring other teams’ games was a happy one for Bruins fans, as the Sabres defeated the Canadiens, 2-0, in Montreal. 

With the Habs falling, the B’s increased their lead on Montreal to three points, meaning that the Canadiens will come to the Garden Thursday night without the ability to seize first place in the Northeast Division. The Habs have also played two more games than the B’s this season, so the Bruins are certainly in control of their own destiny, and with 10 games remaining in the regular season, it would a disappointing finish to not wind up with a Top-3 seed.

While Thursday’s game won’t determine anything concrete when it comes to the playoffs, it will likely provide a preview. With the B’s in the No. 3 spot and the Habs sixth, there is a good chance the two teams might meet in the first round of the postseason.