The Bruins knew amidst their 3-7-0 start to the season that things needed to be turned around in November. Though a pretty accurate playoff picture generally takes shape by the first of November each year, the Bruins enter the next checkpoint, Thanksgiving, sitting much prettier than they were when they began the month dead last in the Eastern Conference. 

The Bruins have a 10-game winning streak to thank for that, as they have gone undefeated in this month and are now third in the conference with 26 points. Their 4-3 shootout win over the Sabres propelled them past Toronto, as they’ve played less games, and put them atop the Northeast division. 

As the red-hot B’s take Thanksgiving off, here’s a look at a few of the reasons why they’ve been able to string together 10 straight wins. 

THEY’VE SCORED LIKE CRAZY

The Bruins have had five point-per-game players in November, and a lot of it has come from the line of Patrice Bergeron between Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand. Seguin, of course, leads the pack with 13 points in 10 games, while Marchand and Bergeron have 12 and 10, respectively. Zdeno Chara has 11 points, while Rich Peverley has one goal and seven assists in the eight games he’s played this month. 

The B’s scored 24 goals in the first 10 games of the season, good for a 2.4 goals per game average (the whole 10 games thing makes the math pretty doable). In the 10 games since, they’ve had a downright ridiculous 4.5 goals per game (that’s 45 goals this month). 

When loking at the offensive tear the B's have been on, don’t forget Chris Kelly. Is it possible the mere presence of a cage could be enough for Kelly’s magical cage powers to return? While Daniel Paille has been practicing with a cage for a while and has played the last two games without registering a point, Kelly has registered nine points this much. Seven of those points came after Paille suffered his injury, requiring a cage. Hmm… 

David Krejci’s line has also figured it out after being broken up and reunited. Milan Lucic has nine points over the last 10 games while both Nathan Horton and Krejci have eight points in November. 

Of course, one of the main reason’s they’ve been scoring so much is because…

FOR THE MOST PART, THEY HAVEN’T FACED GREAT GOALTENDING

Not to take any credit away from the Bruins’ offensive explosions, but you have to at least consider some of the guys they’ve been shooting on this month. The B’s played the Senators when they had the worst goals against average in the league. They’ve played the Islanders twice. They faced the Maple Leafs’ rookie Ben Scrivens in just his second career start. 

The most impressive of the Bruins’ 10 wins this month was Monday’s 1-0 victory over Montreal, as it proved they could win a nail-biter against an elite goaltender who at the time was red hot (Carey Price had picked up shutouts in his last two starts entering the meeting).

In order for the Bruins to extend their streak to 11 games, they may have to win the same fashion. Up next are the Red Wings and goaltender Jimmy Howard, who is certainly among the best in the business. He’s tied with Thomas, Pekka Rinne and Jonathan Quick (another big year for Hockey East goalies) for the league lead in shutouts with three.

THEY CAN WIN IN SHOOTOUTS

Last season, the Bruins would to a shootout and you could turn off the TV knowing they probably got one point that night. This season, it’s been a different story. 

The Bruins have as many shootout wins this November as they did all of last season, and their 3-0 record in shootouts this season looks a heck of a lot better than their 2-6 mark of a season ago. 

Claude Julien admitted last season that the shootout was a weak area for the team, but they’ve used much of the same personnel this season and found better results. Thomas has certainly been better in shootouts (see below), and it’s worth nothing that they’ve been able to pick up shootout wins without Seguin (or anyone for that matter – note no Bruin has more than one shootout goal this season) having to bail them out. Here are the Bruins’ shootout statistics, sorted by how many attempts they’ve had:

Tyler Seguin: 1/3

Rich Peverley: 1/2 

David Krejci: 1/2

Patrice Bergeron: 0/2

Benoit Pouliot: 1/1

Thomas has allowed just one shootout goal on eight attempts from opponents this season, while Rask stopped two of three against the Blue Jackets. 

CLAUDE JULIEN IS WORKING HIS MAGIC

The man has been a motivational mastermind this year. Think back to last Tuesday, when Brad Marchand took a bad roughing penalty in the offensive zone halfway through the second period against New Jersey. Julien gave him only two more shifts the rest of the period, taking him off both his regular line in favor of Chris Kelly and the power play. The coach then put the members of the second line out to begin the third period, seemingly waiting a few extra seconds before sending Marchand out, and the second-year forward ended up scoring on a breakaway six seconds into the period. 

Then there’s the Benoit Pouliot situation. As frustrating as he may be for some fans to watch, Julien’s handled him well and seen the talented forward win the Bruins two games. Pouliot got the game-winner in that same New Jersey game, but Wednesday night’s victory had to be more thrilling for the former fourth overall pick. 

A couple of bad penalties Monday in Montreal got Pouliot benched left fans hoping for Jordan Caron would be in the lineup Wednesday. Instead, Julien stuck with Pouliot, and after Jhonas Enroth stopped Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron in the shootout, Julien went with Pouliot. The third-line winger went high on Enroth, bringing the Bruins’ streak to 10 games and providing a boost of confidence for a player who’s been in and out of the lineup.

Julien’s also handled the goaltending well. He wasn’t afraid to give Rask two straight games early in the month, even though that meant a week off for Thomas. Julien will always have his critics, but they haven’t been left with much to talk about recently.