Tuesday’s win over the Lightning gave the Bruins three consecutive wins after failing to do so in their previous 41 games.  

Think about that. The No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference, a team with a 44-28-3 record, went half a season without winning three games in a row. They finally won their third straight with a win over the 11th team in the conference, and that team had five three-win streaks over its previous 41 games. 

The fact that it took a division leader and legitimate Cup contender that long to achieve a pretty modest feat perfectly illustrates the 2011-12 Bruins. It’s either excellence (21-2-1 from Nov. 1 to Dec. 28) or worse than mediocrity (16-18-2 from Dec. 31 to March 15). The 2011-12 Bruins have been seen both putting up six-plus goals a night with ease and getting shut out five times in a month. They’ve been seen playing air-tight defensively, and they’ve been seen playing so poorly in their own end that games have gotten out of hand. 

Right now, the B’s find themselves in a more optimistic place than the gloomy days of January and February, but there are also just six games remaining in the regular season. In this campaign of highs and lows, this is the point of the season in which the lows need to exit the equation for good. The question isn’t whether the B’s are turning the corner or emerging from their midseason funk, but whether they’re close to where they need to be when the playoffs begin in two weeks. 

Zdeno Chara showed Tuesday that he’s getting to where he needs to be. Though he was on the ice for both of Steven Stamkos’ goals, the captain was his usual stingy self defensively and contributed in a major way offensively. His drive to the net in the first period led to the rebound that Shawn Thornton buried, and his slapshot from the point in the second period resulted in Dennis Seidenberg’s fourth goal of the season. He also got a helper on Benoit Pouliot’s goal, giving Chara three assists in one game for just the third time in his career. 

“I think we are on the right track, but there’s always room to improve and get better,” Chara said after the game. “We can’t be just sitting on three wins now and be happy about it. We can enjoy the win tonight, and get ready for tomorrow’s practice and the next opponent. It won’t be an easy game, which it never is. We have a tough opponent these last few games and we’ve just got to be ready. We’ve got to play up to our level and be the best every game.”

That all sounds cliché, but it’s the truth. Of the B’s final six remaining games, only one of their opponents – the Islanders – is out of the playoff race. The Bruins will host the Capitals Thursday, with Washington currently two points out of the eighth spot and fighting to climb into the top 8. After the Islanders on Saturday, the B’s face the Rangers, Penguins, Senators and Sabres to finish the season. The stiff competition is there, and if the level of play is as high as it’s been, the B’s should be in good shape.

Thornton is known for not paying attention to other teams, the standings, or pretty much anything outside the Bruins’ dressing room. He doesn’t get tied up in too many things aside from how the team is playing, so No. 22 didn’t look at the Tuesday’s win as significant because it was their third straight. Instead, he saw it as the latest strong effort from a team that needs them. 

“I think we’ve been more consistent of late, and that’s all that really matters,” Thornton said. “There’s a streak, no streak, whatever. We played a good game tonight. Don’t get too high, focus on Washington on Thursday after this.”

Like Chara, Thornton is also seeing his work pay off. In burying Chara’s rebound, the Merlot Line winger scored his first goal in 35 games, but that wasn’t the extent of his contributions. Thornton poked the puck away from a Lightning defenseman at the Bruins’ blue line in the first period to create a breakaway on which he was stopped by Dwayne Roloson, and the veteran winger saw his line produce multiple scoring opportunities as the night went on. 

“We had good legs tonight,” Thornton said of his line with Gregory Campbell and Jordan Caron. “We felt good. I think my two linemates played pretty well, strong on pucks. We got some opportunities. [We] probably should have been rewarded a little bit more than that one goal, but we’re happy to chip in.”

The results have been there for the Bruins over their last seven games. They’ve averaged 3.42 goals per game, a generous bump up from the 2.0 they averaged in the four games before that. Furthermore, they’ve been tighter defensively. In Tim Thomas’ last two home games, he’s faced a grand total of 31 shots, including a season-low 13 last Monday against the Maple Leafs. 

Winning streaks aside, the Bruins know that the time for ups and downs is over. Most of their games will have a playoff-like intensity, and they’ll be good contests for measuring where they stand against the East’s best teams right before the postseason.