It wasn’t a week ago that Nathan Horton was sitting at his stall at TD Garden, downtrodden amidst a quiet start to the season and revealing some interesting details of where he was mentally not right. The most shocking bit to emerge from the session from the media was his admission that he was still thinking about the concussion he suffered on the blindside hit he took from Aaron Rome in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. He said he hadn’t been himself, and thinking about the concussion had something to do with it. 

On Monday, Horton finally was himself, and the Bruins benefited from it. 

Horton fired a wrist shot past Evgeni Nabakov in the first period Monday for his third goal of the season, and in the third period picked up an assist when a give-and-go resulted in an easy Milan Lucic goal. Forty-nine seconds later, Horton got a rebound from a Joe Corvo shot and buried it for his second goal of the night, capping a three-point effort for him. It was the offensive outburst Horton had been waiting for all season, and at least for a night, it was something to take his mind off the concussion. 

“It definitely makes you stronger,” Horton said of having a big night offensively. “The tough times are not easy, but tonight I felt better. It makes you feel better getting points and feeling good out there. I still want work on my game and keep getting better and do anything I can to help my team.”

Horton said after the game that he knew he had to stay positive throughout his early season slump. Based on his comments last week, it would seem that was easier said than done. Reminded of that following the game, Horton admitted it was harder to stay positive at a time in which he was so unsure of things.

“With the summer we had, and what happened, it’s tough to describe,” Hoston said. “Not everyone has gone through it. I didn’t even know… I didn’t expect to have [such a hard time], but I want to be better. 

“I’m going to keep working hard to be my best every game. I don’t want to just be okay for one game and not [the next]. I want to be consistent.”

For Horton, consistency would be a bonus, as the streaky forward is almost expected to have highs and lows during the season. As long as he can look like himself again, B’s fans will take it. 

RASK GETS HIS SUPPORT

With Tuukka Rask getting the nod in net vs. the Islanders, it seemed one trend was going to change: either the Bruins, who had a combined 12 goals against the Senators and Maple Leafs over their previous two games, would slow down offensively or they would finally give Rask some actual support. Fortunately for Rask and the B’s, it was the latter. 

The Bruins had scored a total of three goals in front of Rask entering Monday, so it was no surprise he had a 0-3-0 record to show for it. Monday’s six-goal effort saw the B’s double their previous offensive production in front of the 24-year-old, and the result was a long-awaited win. 

“I think it was just a matter of time,” Claude Julien said after the game. “I don’t think we ever questioned his play, and even in those games we lost, it was pretty obvious that his game was fine. It was it was us in front of him that weren’t doing a very good job, so tonight the players played much better in front of him and gave him some cushion as well, and he was able to play his game comfortably.”

The victory was Rask’s first since April 2 against the Thrashers last season. The goalie who led the NHL in most statistical category two seasons ago has had to deal with becoming a backup and having few goals scored in front of him. Through it all, he’s been a cool customer, but there’s no doubt that he’s relieved to have finally won. 

“The sooner the better, right?” Rask said of winning. “I wasn’t too frustrated, but when you feel like you’re playing ok and then just losing, it’s tough on your confidence a little bit, but we battled through it and it’s good to get that win.”

TWITTER SAVVY

Somehow, Marc Savard hadn't been on Twitter since August (!) and the media hadn’t the slightest clue until Monday. The center, whose concussion issues have kept him out for at least this season, had only 400-something followers during the day on Monday, but by the time the Bruins verified the account as legitimate, his numbers grew into the thousands. 

For Savard, Twitter can act as a good medium to stay in touch with the hockey world when he’s back home in Peterborough, Ontario. Yet Monday, he did more than check in. He offered some predictions, like that the Bruins would beat the Islanders, and that Horton and Lucic in particular would have “big nights.”

As his tweets will suggest, Savard won't be confused for an English professor any time soon, but when it came to his predictions Monday, he was right on the money . With the B’s leading by a 3-2 score in the third period, Savard tweeted, “3-2 horton or lucic will score stay tuned.” Both followed with goals, and they heard about Savard’s psychic powers after the game. 

“Maybe he can [predict the future]. We miss him here. ... Hopefully he tweets some more about [me playing well],” Horton said, adding that he would text the center to ask him to predict more big games. 

Though Horton will text Savard, don’t expect him to tweet him any time soon. When asked whether he’ll get on twitter like Savard, Steven Kampfer and Tyler Seguin, Horton laughed and replied , “I don’t got tweets.”

Now that Savard has a track record of being right, Bruins fans might expect his future predictions to hold true. If so, B’s fans might have reason for some wishful thinking. 

Tweeted Savard late Monday night: “Big win for the boys at least 5 straight wins coming up maybe more and horty will continue to score.”