In the middle of a playoff race and with now just 12 games left in the regular season, a win is a win and two points are two points.
The Bruins got their fifth straight win with Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Buffalo and picked up two important points in the process, extending their lead over the Rangers (who lost Tuesday night) for the East Division's fourth and final playoff spot to six points, with two games still in hand.
But you also want to be playing your best hockey as consistently as possible at this time of year. While the Bruins had done that for much of this winning streak, they didn't Tuesday night. This one goes in the "ugly win" column, and it may have not even been a win if not for a stellar 32-save effort from Tuukka Rask.
The third period was particularly sloppy, as the Bruins took four penalties and gave up 17 shots on goal while trying to close out the team with the worst record in the NHL. Not exactly a convincing finish.
Unsurprisingly, coach Bruce Cassidy wasn't especially thrilled with his team's effort despite the win.
"I didn't like our third period at all," Cassidy said. "I thought we lost our discipline. We gave up a lot of chances, relied on our goaltender. I didn't think we played very well, and I didn't think they were great early on either. I just thought it was two teams that looked like they've played a lot of hockey recently. Execution was off. Got some huge saves from Tuukka obviously tonight.
"We had some looks as well. I think we left a lot of plays out there, to be honest with you. Good looks from the slot, we hit the goalie right in the crest. We didn't execute the last play on a rush. Different things I think we're capable of doing better.
"Hopefully our guys feel the same way. We won the game, got the two points. This time of year, that's the most important thing, but understand the way we want to play and play to our standard. I don't think we were there tonight. There's games you play well and don't get any points. There's other games you play OK, like tonight, and get two points, but we've got to raise our standard internally and get back to work tomorrow so we're better prepared for Thursday."
The penalties are particularly concerning, as it's a season-long problem that has gotten worse, not better, late in the season. The Bruins' 10:15 penalty minutes per game are the most in the NHL, and they've now had 10 or more penalty minutes in six of their last eight games, including 12 on Tuesday.
Obviously it helps -- a lot -- that the Bruins also have the best penalty kill in the NHL, but it's still not really a formula you want to be relying on.
"Well, there is," Cassidy said when asked if there's a penalty problem. "Some lack of discipline ones, you can address. But we've got high-sticking, a lot of high-sticking recently. I mean, you're telling players to be in charge of their stick, but I don't think there's any player who goes on the ice and purposely high-sticks someone in the face. But a little more aware of your surroundings, I guess, and manage it better.
"We've killed -- I think this year we're the highest-penalized team in the league in terms of killing penalties, and that's rare for us. … We do have to fix it. Can't do that. Some of your players get stale on the bench. It's taxing on your four-to-eight guys that kill, it's taxing on your goaltender, and I think it just takes away from the rhythm of your game."
Even while praising a couple of his players after Tuesday's game, Cassidy circled back to criticizing the team as a whole. Rask was "excellent," but, "I think we put him in some spots there in the third where we could have been a lot better in front of him and made his life a lot easier."
Taylor Hall showed "good commitment" breaking up a Sabres two-on-one in the third period as the last line of defense, but, "We shouldn't be in that position to be honest with you. We have to do a better job at the o-zone blue line."
While the Sabres still have the league's worst record, they've been far from a pushover recently. They've now played the Bruins tough twice in the last week, and they've beaten the Capitals and Penguins in between.
The Bruins play them again this Thursday and Friday and twice more next week. These should be games in which the Bruins can continue to rack up points, but they'll need to be better than they were Tuesday and get back to how they were playing in their three straight wins over the Islanders and Capitals.
