The Bruins have the pieces to be a great team -- that much can’t be debated. Yet in order to be as dominant as possible, they need the right guys going at the same time. Too often recently, they haven’t had their top line producing like a top line, and they’re going to need that line going as the games get more important late in the season heading into the playoffs. 

Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic took steps toward correcting that deficiency in Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Capitals at TD Garden. Lucic entered the game without a goal in 10 straight games, while Horton hadn’t scored in eight contests. Though Lucic’s scoring slump reached 11 games, he and Horton both brought the good stuff in delivering three-point performances. 

The improved play was evident from the onset of the game, with both Lucic and Horton getting pucks deep and playing more of a physical, aggressive game to create turnovers. The hard work paid off late in the first period, when Lucic fed Horton at the hashmarks, where the right wing beat Michael Neuvirth for the goal in what would be a Gordie Howe hat trick. 

Horton finished with a goal, two assists and a fight against Matt Hendricks, while Lucic (three assists) and David Krejci (a goal and two assists) also had three-point days.

For Horton, Saturday’s game came as a relief, and even though Lucic didn’t score, his teammates saw from the get-go Saturday that the line was more than ready to break out of a stretch that had seen sluggish and unproductive hockey. 

“I think that they're good at putting pressure on themselves and knowing that they wanted more out of their game,” Andrew Ference, who converted a nice behind-the-back pass from Horton in the second period into a goal, said after the game. “They did a great job at that.  

While Lucic and Horton had struggled to find their scoring touch, Krejci had remained sharp in what’s been the most consistent run of his career. Krejci, who is tied with Patrice Bergeron for the team lead with 24 points, has avoided the slumps that have plagued him throughout his time with the B’s. 

In each of Krejci’s previous four seasons, he had no less than three stretches of three straight games without a point -- and those stretches often lasted much longer than three games. For example, in 2009-10, he twice went six games without showing up on the scoring sheet. 

This season, not only has Krejci not seen a pointless stretch reach three games, but he’s actually only once put together back-to-back nights without a point. Not bad for a guy who’s gone five games without a point seven different times over the last four seasons. 

It wasn’t all good for Krejci Saturday, as he followed up stealing the puck from Marcus Johansson by trying to pass the puck across the Bruins’ goal and instead banked it off Johnny Boychuk’s skate and in. 

Yet Krejci made up for what ended up being the goal that cost Anton Khudobin a shutout. He made the pass to Horton to set up Andrew Ference’s goal, giving him a hand in four goals on the day -- three for the Bruins and one for Capitals. 

All in all, it was a very positive step for the B’s as their first line got back on track. While Patrice Bergeron’s line has been red-hot of late, getting the top line going will be key to whether or not the Bruins prove to have staying power as things pick up. Horton doesn’t think it’s all about them, though. 

"I think we need all lines going,” Horton said. “… When we're at our best, all lines are going, because we do roll four lines. It's not like we double-shift one line. I think that's when we're at our best and everybody knows it."

MEET ‘THE ROOSTER SHIRT’

Ference scored his first goal of the season Saturday, but he also debuted the Bruins’ yearly article of clothing. 

In 2010-11, it was The Jacket, an old windbreaker from the late ‘80s/early ‘90s Ference had bought on eBay. The player of the game in each playoff win would wear the jacket following the game and would pass it onto the next player after the next win. 

Last postseason, it was The Chain, a massive chain with a padlock on which Ference would engrave the initials of the game’s top performer. 

When Horton stood in the Bruins’ dressing room wearing a big hideous red t-shirt with a mammoth picture of a rooster’s face on it, it was easy enough to guess what was up. 

“Ask Fer,” Horton said with a laugh.

As it turns out, Ference chose the rooster t-shirt for this year’s article because “a rooster in the kitchen brings good luck” in Europe. Considering 12 Bruins (including Ference) played in Europe during the lockout, it seems like an appropriate enough symbol for team unity, as silly as it may look.