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BOSTON -- After Boston's top four defensemen of Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Adam McQuaid and Johnny Boychuk, it will be a true competition between Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug and Matt Bartkowski for the final two spots on the blue line.

Hamilton, Krug and Bartkowski have all played well in the first week of camp and into the preseason exhibition schedule. But one of those three will serve as the healthy scratch once the season starts, so the competition should be intense and healthy.

"We don't have to spell that out to them," said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. "I spoke openly to the group about competition. I'm really looking forward to seeing the competition at all levels, at all positions.

"Common sense would dictate right now that it would be those three guys for those two spots. They've embraced it and they've played well. I thought Dougie had a good game [Tuesday night]. He was strong on the puck and made some good plays and closed well as the game progressed. Torey and Bart, the other night in Montreal, they both played well."

Chiarelli added that no spot is guaranteed, but when asked if he would be comfortable seeing Hamilton play for the P-Bruins at some point instead of watching from press level as the healthy scratch, the GM said: "My goal is to have him in the NHL."

* With two exhibition games in the books, all four goalies have each played half of a game. Tuukka Rask and Niklas Svedberg played Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals, while Chad Johnson and Malcolm Subban played Monday at Montreal. The latter three are competing for the backup role behind Rask.

"We're all competitive and we all want to be out there," Rask said. "I haven't paid too much attention to that yet but I'm sure as the camp keeps going further and further I'll get to practice with the other goalies and see how they're doing."

Camp has been split into two groups, so Rask has been on the ice with Svedberg all week.

"I thought he made some key saves out there," Rask said of Svedberg's performance Tuesday night. "I thought he was solid."

* Bruins forward Daniel Paille did not practice Wednesday, but both Chiarelli and coach Claude Julien said it had nothing to do with hockey, simply saying Paille was ill and expected back on the ice Thursday.

* While it's a possibility Gregory Campbell could return to game action Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden, teammate Patrice Bergeron still needs more time, according to Julien, but the coach added it's a possibility Bergeron could play Saturday at Detroit.

* Rask's spirited temper is in midseason form. During the last drill of Wednesday's practice, he took a couple of shots up high and had a few goals scored on him. He stormed off the ice, smashed his stick into pieces against the boards and threw his gloves down the hallway. Afterward, he was fine, saying he's not a fan of the neutral zone scrimmage.

* The Bruins made their first round of cuts Wednesday afternoon. Camp invites Scott Campbell, Jack Downing, Steven Spinell and Ben Youds will join the Providence Bruins training camp, while Tyler Randell and Adam Morrison have been assigned to Providence.

WILMINGTON, Mass -- Dougie Hamilton won't deny he'd like to be playing more during his first Stanley Cup playoffs, but he's happy to at least be along for the ride. At this time last year, Hamilton was relaxing at home, watching the playoffs after his last season with the Niagara IceDogs. Now Hamilton is getting a front-row seat to what it takes to win the playoffs. Although he's played in only seven of the Bruins' 12 games thus far, he's soaking it in.

"It's been a good experience," said Hamilton, who has three postseason assists. "Obviously you want to be playing every game but I understand what's going on. I think I'm the youngest guy left in the playoffs right now and it's pretty nice to look at it that way. I think just watching is helping a lot too and I've been lucky to get some games in and I'm taking it all in as a good experience."

Hamilton is learning something new every day but what he's found to be most important is to just play his game and not try to do too much.

"It's been everything everyone said it would be and more," said Hamilton, who finished the regular season with 16 points in 42 games. "Especially at this point you have to bear down on the little things and it's about keeping it simple or waiting in your position and not pushing too much, just doing your job. It's been great watching it first-hand and I'm enjoying it too."

Another lesson that Hamilton is taking to heart is that he must remain even-keeled and not let games or not playing in some games affect his play or mental approach. The 19-year-old rookie has realized how quickly things can change game to game and how fast momentum can switch.

"You just need to move on from every game because every game really is different," Hamilton said. "You just watch the other playoff games too and you see the ups and downs or guys struggling and then turning it on. Series change so quickly and you need to roll with the ups and downs and play one game at a time."

Last Sunday Hamilton made sure to watch some of the Memorial Cup finals, as former Hockey Canada teammates at the World Junior Championships Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin helped lead the Halifax Mooseheads to the championship. It helped Hamilton realize just how far he has come in just over four months since he was playing with MacKinnon and Drouin for Canada in Russia this past January.

"I watched a little bit of the last game and saw my world junior teammates putting on a show," Hamilton said with a smile. "It's kind of cool to see that and then look back a bit and then see where I am now."

BOSTON -- It's looking increasingly likely the Bruins will be without one or more of their injured trio of defensemen when they begin the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Rangers on Thursday night at TD Garden. Dennis Seidenberg, Andrew Ference and Wade Redden were all missing from practice Wednesday, and there were no updates on any of the blueliners from coach Claude Julien after practice.

"Not really. Again, you saw none of them on the ice today. That's the situation," Julien said. "I'm in the training room every day talking to my trainers. A lot of that stuff is day-to-day until we get them through. There's injuries; there's no hiding that fact, except that sometimes you can get players through those and sometimes you can't. Sometimes it's better not to practice and just to play. We're going to look at that situation. At the end of the day, my final roster will be decided before the game."

For now, Julien is hoping Matt Bartkowski -- who scored the first goal of his NHL career in the Bruins' 5-4 Game 7 win over Toronto Monday -- and Dougie Hamilton can build off the minutes they saw in Monday's win and their playoff experience thus far.

"I think, again, we went down to five D's [defensemen] in the first couple of minutes of the game," Julien said. "When you look at the ice time they got, they got quite a bit and they did a great job. For them, it's important that they build on that and take the confidence that they had in that game and carry it into the next series."

On Tuesday, the Bruins recalled Torey Krug from Providence to boost their blue-line depth. The rookie defenseman has never played a Stanley Cup playoff game in his life, but he knows that he must follow in Bartkowski's and Hamilton's footsteps and just be himself on the ice, if he ends up playing Thursday.

"One thing that Bart has told me, and that the coaches have reinforced in me, is to play the same game I was playing in Providence," said Krug. "Bart came up and played the same way he was playing in Providence. It's important for me to stick to my roots."

Julien said that's exactly what he and his staff want from Krug, Bartkowski and Hamilton.

"That's what I encouraged our guys to do -- 'You guys go out there and play your game.' I don't want them to feel the pressure," Julien said. "I don't want them to not be comfortable or have the ability to play as well as they can. It's about encouraging them to do those kinds of things. We know our players well enough that we know what they're capable of bringing. It's about putting them in those positions to be able to play that way and bring that part of their game to the team."

Julien also said that positive reinforcement is key for this young trio to succeed in the pressure environment that is the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"I think it's more about showing confidence in the guys that are going to be playing if that's the case," Julien said. "Right now, the guys that played last game, you look at Hamilton and Bartkowski, I thought they handled themselves really well, especially with five D's. The confidence in those guys seems to be getting better all the time. It's a matter of stabilizing, I guess, your team the best you can and move forward. When you look back at situations that we see in the past, there's guys that have walked into a team and done extremely well because they just go out there and play."

BOSTON -- Two young guns, two kids with promising upsides, defensemen with their best years ahead, and both found themselves digging back to their days of lower-level hockey to try to find a viable comparison to what had just transpired in the Bruins' wild Game 7 win at TD Garden.

Try as they might, neither could find one.

"Being down like that in the third period, overcoming a mountain like that, was awesome," said Matt Bartkowski, who was given the go right after warmups and gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead before they had to claw back for a 5-4 overtime win over the Maple Leafs. "I was thinking, I played first round in the minors, our Game 4 we had to win and we were down 4-3 with four minutes to go and we scored two goals in two minutes. But this tops that by far. That's the only thing I thought about."

Rookie Dougie Hamilton, playing in his third playoff hockey game, recalled his appearance with Team Canada in last December's World Junior Championships, rallying from a big deficit before eventually losing.

"To be honest, I kind of thought we were done," Hamilton admitted. "But for me, just looking back at past experience, I think we came back from a four-goal lead -- I think back to juniors too, we didn't complete it, but that's how I felt."

It's been a trial by fire for the young defensemen, who were thrown a heavy workload with Andrew Ference and Wade Redden out, and Dennis Seidenberg leaving the game after just two shifts and 37 total seconds of ice time. But both were up for it, demonstrating remarkable maturity in spite of their inexperience.

Bartkowski's goal, his first career playoff goal, was testament to that. Just more than five minutes into the game, Bartkowski was gift-wrapped a golden opportunity when Cody Franson got a bit too fancy, blindly backhanding a puck between his legs off the wall, right to Bartkowski.

Some youngsters might have quick-triggered given the window of opportunity. Bartkowski held on to the puck and waited a brief moment, just long enough for David Krejci to swoop in front of goalie James Reimer and flash a quick screen as Bartkowski unloaded from the high slot. The puck beat Reimer short side, over his right shoulder, for the 1-0 lead.

"I saw I had a little bit of time," Bartkowski said. "That was an unbelievable screen right there [from Krejci]. That made the goal."

With the Bruins down to five defensemen, Bartkowski logged 24:51 of ice time on 35 shifts, registering three shots and a hit, and finishing even in the plus-minus column. Hamilton, the Bruins' first-round draft pick (ninth overall) in 2011, was just as serviceable, logging 21:08 of time on 28 shifts with two shots, two hits and an even finish for the plus-minus category.

“[Seidenberg] plays a ton of minutes and for a guy like him to go down, it’s a big blow to our team, but you’ve got to give it to our defensemen,” forward Brad Marchand said. “They stepped up tonight and played unbelievable. Bart and Dougie coming in, a couple of young guys, and playing the minutes they did, then [Zdeno Chara] and Johnny [Boychuk] back there, and [Adam McQuaid], they did an incredible job tonight.”

Add Seidenberg to the list of defensemen whose status is up in the air, joining Game 7 absences Ference and Redden. This doesn't figure to be the last we'll see of Hamilton and Bartkowski.

Good to know they can be relied upon in the crunch.

"You have to find a way to give credit to those two young guys on the back end -- Hamilton and obviously Bartkowski," coach Claude Julien said. "Bartkowski was moving the puck and carrying it so well tonight, and he scored a big goal for us.

"I saw Dougie Hamilton get more and more comfortable as the game went on, as far as carrying the puck and making plays. You talk about people coming in, we were minus three real good veterans in our back end, so that's half your core, and those guys come in and do a heck of a job."

TORONTO -- Boston Bruins rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton will be in the lineup for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday night at Air Canada Centre.

With Bruins blueliner Andrew Ference not in Toronto because of an undisclosed injury, which he suffered in the third period of Game 5, Hamilton will play his second Stanley Cup playoff game. He also played Game 2, while Ference served a one-game suspension for his hit to the head of the Maple Leafs’ Mikhail Grabovski.

Based on pregame warmups, Boston’s defensive pairings should look like this: Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk, Dennis Seidenberg-Adam McQuaid and Hamilton-Wade Redden.

The Bruins’ Matt Bartkowski and Aaron Johnson look to be the healthy scratches.

BOSTON -- Bruins rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton hadn’t played a game since April 23, when he was a minus-2 in a 5-2 loss to the Flyers. Hamilton spent the last three games pf the regular season and Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals series against Toronto in the press box as a healthy scratch.

But with Andrew Ference serving a one-game suspension, Hamilton found himself back in the lineup and playing in his first career Stanley Cup playoff game. Unfortunately for him and the Bruins, they fell 4-2 to the Leafs and head to Toronto for Games 3 and 4 with the series tied at one.

Following the game, Hamilton acknowledged some rust and nervousness but was more concerned with the fact that his team lost.

“I think it was tough. The first period I was a little bit nervous,” said Hamilton, who finished the season with 16 points in 42 games. “Just haven’t played a game in a while, so I felt better after that. I thought I played well and it’s just unfortunate that we didn’t get the win.”

Hamilton now realizes just how different a brand of hockey the playoffs can be. As he pointed out, the intensity and physicality are on a whole new level.

“I think just with all the extra hitting and physical play, just with how much each game means,” Hamilton said. “Definitely more intense.”

With Ference back for Game 3, Hamilton likely will be returning to the press box, but coach Claude Julien sounded happy with Hamilton’s performance in Game 2.

“Dougie played a solid game and he did what he had to do,” Julien said.

WILMINGTON, Mass. -- Good morning from Ristuccia Arena, where the Bruins are practicing in preparation for Game 2 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at TD Garden.

Forward Rich Peverley, who was a healthy scratch for Game 1, is back on the Bruins’ third line along with Chris Kelly and Jaromir Jagr. Forward Kaspars Daugavins, who played in Boston’s 4-1 win on Wednesday, is wearing a green practice sweater along with Carl Soderberg and Jay Pandolfo.

One thing we're watching is the defensive pairs since Andrew Ference suspended for Game 2 for his illegal hit on the Leafs’ Mikhail Grabovski. It’s likely Bruins coach Claude Julien will spilt up the defensive pair of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg for Game 2 in order to give the blue line more balance without Ference in the lineup.

Julien is mixing and matching his pairs this morning, but it appears Dougie Hamilton could be back in the lineup and paired with Seidenberg.

We’ll have more updates after practice.

BOSTON -- For the past two days, the Boston Bruins insisted their late-season funk was in the rearview mirror. There would be no more blown leads in the third period and no more lackluster starts. The skilled and physical Bruins would return.

Well, the Bruins kept their promises as they overcame an early Toronto Maple Leafs power-play goal and scored the next four goals, dominating the Leafs 4-1 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

David Krejci had a goal and two assists, Wade Redden had a goal and an assist and Nathan Horton and Johnny Boychuk both lit the lamp for the Bruins. Tuukka Rask looked solid between the pipes, making 19 saves, with James van Riemsdyk’s power-play goal in the opening period the only shot that beat him.

For the Leafs, James Reimer was under siege all night as the Bruins poured 40 shots on him.

Lucic-Krejci-Horton line clicks again: One of the big question marks heading into this series was whether Milan Lucic, Krejci and Horton could find their magic again. If Game 1 is any indication, the band is back together and the magic is there. In addition to Krejci’s three-point performance and Horton lighting the lamp, Lucic had two helpers and continued to look more like the Lucic who used a combination of grit, size and skating to earn two straight seasons of 20-plus goals. The chemistry was back as Horton and Lucic got to open spaces to benefit from Krejci’s playmaking skills, and Krejci looked a lot like the player who was a candidate for the 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Bruins defense provides offensive boost: Prior to Game 1, coach Claude Julien lauded Redden for his recent play and puck-moving skills. Redden continued to impress with his goal and an assist, but the Bruins' entire defense did a great job of moving the puck and creating offense in Game 1. In addition to Boychuk's goal, Bruins defensemen helped in peppering Reimer and controlling neutral zone play.

Power play looks better: While the Bruins’ power play (1-for-5) can certainly still be better, it did convert once and moved the puck a lot better. The passes were crisp, and there was less hesitation. If that continues, the scoring production will increase.

Suspension coming for Ference? Andrew Ference could very well be sitting out a game or more after elbowing Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski in the head in the first period. No penalty was called, but the replay clearly shows an elbow to the head.

Bruins have two goals called back: Things could have been even worse for the Leafs if not for two Bruins goals being called back. The referees and replay officials got it right in calling back a Tyler Seguin shot that clearly rang off the post 1:10 into the second period. But Patrice Bergeron’s no-goal was a bit questionable as the referees claimed the whistle was blown before Bergeron pushed it into the net. But even if the refs were wrong, the rule states if they intended to blow it and didn’t do it in time, then it’s still not a goal.

Bad blood boils at end: In addition to Ference’s questionable hit to the head of Grabovski, there was plenty of hard hitting throughout the game. As time wound down in the third period and it was clear the Bruins would win, the Leafs decided to let the Bruins know they were still there, taking plenty of extra hits after the whistle and then stirring things up at the final buzzer. The result was a Chris Kelly-Leo Komarov fight. It should be a physical Game 2.

Hamilton and Peverley sit: Not surprisingly, Julien kept Dougie Hamilton in the press box as a healthy scratch. The defenseman struggled in his last few games of the regular season, and Julien seems to have opted to take the learning-from-up-top route he took with Seguin as a rookie to start the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. While Rich Peverley might have had an off season, one would think Julien would prefer playoff and Cup experience in the lineup instead of an inexperienced Kaspars Daugavins. But it was Daugavins playing with Kelly and Jaromir Jagr for Game 1.

Here’s what the rest of the lineup looked like:

Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Daugavins-Kelly-Jagr
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Defensemen
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Ference-Boychuk
Redden-Adam McQuaid

Goalies
Rask
Anton Khudobin

BOSTON -- Rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton was recognized Thursday in a pregame ceremony and given the Boston Bruins' Seventh Player Award.

The award is given annually and voted on by the fans to honor the player who goes "above and beyond" and "exceeds expectations" during the season. In his first year in the NHL, Hamilton, 19, has five goals and 11 assists for 16 points in 42 games, including a plus-6 rating.

The former first-round pick (ninth overall) in the 2011 NHL entry draft is tied for third in the league among rookie defensemen in points (16), third in assists (11) and tied for third in goals (5).

Despite the award, Hamilton was a healthy scratch Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Past winners of the Seventh Player Award include Tyler Seguin, Brad Marchand, Tuukka Rask, David Krejci and Milan Lucic.

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins exploded for a season-high six goals in a 6-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday, and the defense was stepping up and creating chances. Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg had three assists, Andrew Ference had a goal and an assist, and Dougie Hamilton had an assist. While the defense as a whole could've been much tighter in their own end, they were making better outlet passes, taking more shots and creating more chances overall.

"For us it's always been about supporting the attack and we want some good offense," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "The guys that seem to be doing it pretty good have been Hamilton and even [Matt] Bartkowski's come up and Ference is there a lot of times. But tonight we had everybody, which was good. Whenever the opportunity was there, Z [Zdeno Chara] jumped in and had an opportunity in the slot area. So it was nice to see everybody contributing in regards to that, because if you are going to score and get better offensively you need some support on the attack and the D's are the guys that can give you that."

Seidenberg believes that the defense corps should be more active in the offensive zone.

"We would love to get involved offensively. I mean, it's nice for [defensemen] to get points here and there, but again, you try in the game," Seidenberg said. "Sometimes it works better than others, and it was just a matter of us putting the pucks in the right places and getting pucks to the net."

The knock on Julien and his system is that he is a defense-first coach who would rather use a trap-like system every game than give his defensemen the green light to jump into plays and create offense. But Seidenberg disputed that notion.

"Are we a defense-first type team? Yes, we are. But, as we all know, a good defense leads to a good offense and we try to show that on the ice every night," Seidenberg said. "All you have to do is look at the stats the last few years and they speak for themselves. We've been right up there in goals scored, and that's because we are allowed to jump into the play when the time is right and if we see an opening. That is part of our game, and some nights we do it better than others but it's there."

Seidenberg also realizes the consequences of such an attack if the defensemen and forwards aren't on the same page. That has been the problem the past few weeks.

"We need to trust each other out there and if the play isn't there or we don't have the support we need it's going to end up an odd-man rush the other way," he said. "That's been happening too much lately and we need to correct that. But we try to contribute offensively whenever we can."

BOSTON -- Bruins center Patrice Bergeron left halfway through the second period of the Bruins-Senators game and will not return. There was no further information on his status. Bergeron was coming back to help in the defensive zone and inadvertently ran his head into the elbow of Senators center Colin Greening. He fell to the ice and took some time to get up before heading down the ramp to the Bruins dressing room.

With Bergeron's history of concussions -- three in his career -- there was obviously major concern at TD Garden. Bergeron, who currently leads the team in points with 31 and assists with 21, missed the majority of the 2007-08 season with a severe concussion. He suffered another concussion the following season, but returned to play. He then missed time in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals with his third concussion but returned to action once again.

Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton left the game briefly in the third period after laying a huge hit on Erik Condra. Hamilton seemed to get the worse of it and exited for the dressing room, but returned to play moments later.

BOSTON -- It was déjà vu for the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night at TD Garden as they saw a third-period lead disappear once again. They blew a two-goal advantage over the Montreal Canadiens and lost 6-5 in a shootout to relinquish first place in the Northeast Division. Not only was this the fifth blown third-period lead for the Bruins in the month of March; it was their second straight against the Canadiens, who came back in the final frame to beat the Bruins 3-2 on March 3.

But having netted five goals for the first time since Jan. 28 to pull themselves out of their recent scoring woes, the Bruins did not seem overly distraught after blowing another lead to their bitter rivals.

"Well, that's the disappointing part, I think. It was nice to see us score some goals tonight; we've been a little dry lately and we managed to score five, so that was nice to see," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "But, unfortunately, we couldn't keep it out of our net, so it ended up costing us the game."

In previous third-period collapses the Bruins folded and didn't resist the opponent's momentum. But they didn't feel that was the case Wednesday. When Michael Ryder cut the lead to 4-3 3:58 into the third period, the Bruins responded with a Tyler Seguin goal 11:50 in. But then penalties, and in the Bruins' eyes some bad bounces, allowed the Canadiens to erase that two-goal lead and eventually pull off another comeback win.

"I would tell you that tonight the lead that evaporated wasn't the same as the other ones I've seen, when we've totally collapsed as a team," Julien said. "Tonight, when everything was fine, we were doing well and then, like I said, a bad bounce, puck bounces, we try to get out, we don't get it out off the faceoff that we win, it turns over, it goes off the face, then we get the penalty. It's an unfortunate break, with eight seconds left to tie the game. I don't think we sat back. We had some chances to score. [Gregory] Campbell had a breakaway there short-handed; we had some chances and we didn't score. But I certainly don't think we held back like we did probably in some other games."

Rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton seemed a bit more concerned about another blown lead, believing that the Bruins need to correct this issue before the playoffs begin.

"I think it's pretty tough right now," said Hamilton, who scored his fourth goal of the season. "I don't think anyone is happy in the room. We definitely got to learn and learn quickly. I think with the last couple of games that we've had, having leads and losing them, I think that's happened a bunch of times this year and we've got to be better. Hopefully, we can just keep getting better. I don't know how many games we have left, but we got to get ready for the playoffs."

But overall, the Bruins seemed encouraged that the goals were finally coming and didn't seem too worried about their efforts. As far as they saw it, they simply came out on the short end of a seesaw game.

"It is frustrating when you're up by two goals in the third. It happened last time," said Patrice Bergeron, who had a goal and three assists. "We thought we were in control, playing a good game. But, yeah, very frustrating. I don't know. We kept putting pressure. We kept netting those goals in the end. A couple of bounces, maybe a little tighter in our zone, and we should be all right."

Bergeron's linemate, Brad Marchand, who scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season, was not happy with the result either. Marchand wants to cure the third-period problems, but he too was able to take positives from the loss.

"We're very disappointed with how the game finished but we do have to be happy we scored as many goals as we did," Marchand said. "We haven't been scoring like that lately and we played a pretty good game. I thought we probably deserved that win but a couple bounces and penalties and stuff and turned out the wrong way. But, definitely, some things we can take out of that to be happy about."

BOSTON -- Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien called it “fishing” for an angle when asked about goaltender Tuukka Rask's first game against the Philadelphia Flyers since the devastating collapse in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

It was the Eastern Conference semifinals, and Boston gained a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Rask as the team’s starting goaltender. Philadelphia, however, won the next four games -- including rallying from a 3-0 Game 7 deficit -- en route to a series victory.

Then-Bruins goalie Tim Thomas struggled with a hip injury late that season, so Boston relied on Rask in the playoffs. The young goaltender outdueled the Buffalo Sabres’ Ryan Miller in the first round before the Bruins faced the Flyers.

With Rask in net, Boston won the first three games by the scores of 5-4 (OT), 3-2 and 4-1 before the team imploded and lost the next four games. Rask was tired and couldn't steal one of those four games, in which he gave up a total of 15 goals (a 3.75 goals-against average).

In 2011, the Bruins had their revenge and swept the Flyers in four games in the second round of the playoffs with Thomas in net. Including those games and eight regular-season matchups, Rask has had to watch a total 12 games against the Flyers from the bench.

Until Saturday.

Rask posted his second shutout of the season with 23 saves to help Boston to a 3-0 win over the Flyers at TD Garden. After the game, he said the 2010 collapse did not serve as any motivation.

“It’s in the past,” Rask said. “As I’ve said before, we won the whole thing the year after. Things happen in hockey, and for a goalie, if you start thinking that certain matchups are better for you than others, you’ve lost half the battle. It was just a game, like any other.

“I won three games in that playoff series, too, but too bad I just lost the last four. It’s hockey. Things happen in hockey. That year, it was Philly. It happens.”

It really isn’t about just one game against the Flyers. Rask has had to prove that he can handle the workload as a true No. 1 now that Thomas is a thing of the past in Boston. Rask has been outstanding this season, posting a 12-2-3 record with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. The shutout was the 13th of his career.

The Bruins are two games shy of the halfway point of this lockout-shortened, 48-game season, and Rask’s play has helped Boston become one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

“I feel good,” Rask said. “Taking the last game [against Toronto] off, it was good to get a little rest, but I’ve felt good throughout these games. It’s going to get busier and busier, so I think it’s really good to keep both goalies going.”

Rask didn’t have to be at his best on Saturday because the defense in front of him was great. When the final buzzer sounds, and your team’s goalie finished with a shutout, it’s an indication of the overall defensive play.

“Really good, the best so far this year,” he said. “We did a great job.”

Rask said he could see every shot and could make the save cleanly or control the rebound. Philadelphia didn’t create many quality scoring chances, but when they did, Rask was ready. In the third period, the Flyers had 11 shots, and despite seeing only 12 in the first two periods, Rask was sharp in the final 20 minutes.

“It’s never easy, but whenever you don’t see that much traffic, or that many shots in the game, it’s kind of mentally tougher to stay sharp,” Rask said. “But when they got those shots, I felt pretty comfortable.”

Bruins forward Tyler Seguin saved a shutout for Rask -- literally -- in the waning minutes of regulation. The Bruins were on a power play when the Flyers created a short-handed opportunity. Rask came out of the net to charge a loose puck, but Philadelphia gained control and shot at the open net. Seguin sprawled out on the ice to make the save and preserve the shutout.

“That was Tyler? I thought it was Dougie [Hamilton]. OK, it was great, great,” Rask said with a laugh. “He was telling me he would have caught the guy when I sprinted out of the net. It’s good to see he’s got my back and he’s got those goalie skills, too. It’s good to see. You’ve got to keep it exciting, right?”

If there were any doubts about Rask as the No. 1 goaltender in Boston, he’s erased those so far this season. There are still 26 games remaining, including what should be a deep run into the postseason for the Bruins.

It won't be his shutout performance against the Flyers on Saturday that will stand out but his entire body of work in 2013. With Rask, it really is about the present and not the past.

The same goes for the defense that protects him.

“I don’t know if I can say, ‘back on track’ until I see it on a consistent basis,” Julien said of his team’s defense. “Today was probably the first day I felt much better about our game without the puck in our defensive zone. We didn’t give them much; they didn’t have a ton of scoring chances, but obviously we've got two tough games [coming up] with Ottawa and Pittsburgh on the road, and we’ll need that kind of game to win those.”

BOSTON -- Bruins rookie Dougie Hamilton already had gotten at taste of the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry back on Feb. 6 when his team scored two unanswered third-period goals to erase a 1-0 Montreal lead and went on to win 2-1 at the Bell Centre. But on Sunday the Habs turned the tables on Hamilton and the Bruins, pulling off a similar comeback with two unanswered third-period goals of their own to win 4-3.

Hamilton scored his second goal of the season in the loss and his first in this bitter rivalry. While he was disappointed that the Bruins lost and fell two points behind Montreal in the standings, Hamilton was still smiling from another thrilling experience against the hated Habs.

"I was kind of excited for it and I think it was pretty fun with our fans on our side. Just unfortunate that we lost it in the third," Hamilton said. "I think with our fans getting into it, it was I fun to play them and play them here, but it would have been a lot better if we could’ve held on in the third."

Hamilton played in similar rivalries during his three seasons with Niagara in the OHL. He feels a similar atmosphere and rivalry with Montreal.

"We had a couple teams that we played in the playoffs, I think one of them was probably Oshawa, we played them two years ago," Hamilton recalled. "They just wanted to be dirty versus us so you kind of get used to that a little bit and it makes it a more intense game. I thought that was kind of similar to tonight."

But Hamilton knows that if the Bruins are to beat the Habs the next time they meet -- April 6 in Montreal -- or beat any team for that matter, they need to get back to their game and erase the mistakes they have been making of late.

"I think it’s a little unfortunate that we had those bounces and they scored those goals, but it’s not really a good feeling in the room right now," he said. "The way we’ve been playing in the third and how we’ve been doing, it’s a weird feeling so hopefully we can get back to how we did before."

BOSTON -- When the Boston Bruins returned home from their recent five-game road trip, rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton opened his fridge and knew what he had to do.

“It might be time for a grocery store run,” Hamilton said.

So, after Wednesday’s practice, he and roommate Adam McQuaid went food shopping. Their shopping list is usually the same: chicken, rice, potatoes and pasta.

The two recently became roommates. McQuaid, who comes from a big and close family, thought it would be a good idea to help the 19-year-old Hamilton adjust to living on his own for the first time.

“It’s always nice if you can be in a situation to help somebody out,” McQuaid said. “I couldn’t imagine, at his age, having so much to adjust to. It’s been a good experience and it’s nice to have someone around.

“We both have similar personalities and it’s a pretty quiet house. It’s weird how we can be sitting in the same room with not much being said and we can be comfortable at the same time.”

McQuaid said the two are not the video game types and they mostly watch a lot of reality-TV shows.

“It’s been great, especially Quaider letting me live with him,” Hamilton said. “He’s been showing me what to do and driving me around. He’s been helping me cook and teaching me how to do the laundry and stuff like that. It’s been great and I enjoy living with him. I’m pretty happy and pretty lucky I got that opportunity.”

McQuaid does most of the cooking, but Hamilton is in charge of lunch.

"I’ve got a pretty good grilled cheese that I cook,” Hamilton said with a smile. “That’s my go-to lunch.”

“He can make a mean grilled cheese. He’s made one for me and it was pretty good,” McQuaid said. “I’m trying to keep him off that diet as much as possible, but that’s his go-to.”

Hamilton’s rookie season has been a productive one. He has one goal and seven assists for eight points in 16 games. In the locker room and on the ice, his teammates don’t treat him as a rookie and that has helped his transition to the NHL game.

“I think I’m comfortable,” Hamilton said. “I’m working hard right now learning the D-zone here and the system because it’s a lot different from what I was used to in junior. Once I learn it, it will be better for me. It’s something when you learn it becomes second nature, and right now I have to focus on it pretty hard and make sure I’m doing those things and hopefully soon they’ll become a habit.”