B's emotions key during postseason.

Byline: Bud Barth

COLUMN: NHL 

On a day when Claude Julien trotted out the old "cone of silence" reference during his usual injury-news blackout, and someone replied that he actually resembles The Chief, the Bruins coach had an appropriate message for his players: Get smart!

With the playoffs starting this week, Julien knows his team can't afford to be baited into another emotional circus like the one that occurred in that 5-4 overtime victory over the Canadiens on Thursday.

The Bruins let their anger careen completely out of control, especially in the second period when the Habs scored all four goals, three of them on power plays. Milan Lucic got suckered into the penalty box for 18 minutes, including 16 of Boston's 26 minutes in that nearly disastrous period.

Obviously, that can't happen in the playoffs, leading Julien to note: "This is something that, hopefully, we learn from." The Canadiens will be the Bruins' first-round opponent, and you don't have to be the lovechild of Edgar Cayce and Jean Dixon to predict what Montreal's strategy will be in that series.

"Our emotions got a little out of control," conceded enforcer Shawn Thornton, who took three roughing penalties in that second period, "but that won't happen in the playoffs."

His evil-looking Fu Manchu mustache in full playoff bloom, Thornton admitted it's not always easy for the B's to control their tempers against the Canadiens given the history between the teams - "We don't like them, they don't like us," he said - but in the playoffs, he knows restraint must trump revenge.

"I've been around long enough. ... I can keep my emotions in check," said Thornton, who played on Anaheim's 2006-07 Stanley Cup champions, who were a fierce bunch. "That last game, as much as we wanted to win, it wasn't do-or-die like a playoff game, so you don't have to keep them as in check, I suppose.

"Every shift in the playoffs could be your last one, so you can't let them get the better of you."

Lucic, who on Thursday added a few new nasty chapters to his long history with Montreal's Michael Komisarek, knows the intensity ratchets up another level in the playoffs, regardless of the opponent. But that doesn't mean uncontrolled aggression.

"We've got to be able to control those emotions and feed off energy and use it to our advantage," said the Bruins' leader in penalty minutes (134).

How does a guy whose game is built on emotion and toughness rein in that aggression when the adrenaline level actually rises?

"It's difficult," Lucic admitted, "but then again, for me personally, it's a little bit easier because there's more at stake. So, when something happens, it's kind of easier to just bite your lip, take it like a man, because there's more at stake.

"There's times like that where you've got to take one for the team, and it's going to work to the team's advantage."

For the record, Lucic had only four penalty minutes in last spring's seven-game series against Montreal, and he scored two goals.

"It's hard because fans go up a notch, the games go up a notch, all the emotions go up a notch, but then again, it's easier because there's more at stake. You could be hurting your team by taking a stupid retaliatory penalty."

Who plays and who sits?

Going into today's regular-season finale at the New York Islanders, three Bruins have a chance to complete a full 82-game season - Marc Savard, David Krejci and Mark Stuart.

Zdeno Chara, who could have logged 82 games for the second time in his career, was held out of yesterday's game against Buffalo, presumably for rest and maintenance. Stuart played all 82 games for Boston last season, and Savard has two 82-game seasons with Atlanta in '05-06 and his first season in Boston ('06-07).

This would be Krejci's first 82-game NHL season. He played 81 games combined last season in Boston (56) and Providence (25).

Julien said on Friday that none of that would figure into his plans.

"I'm not really going to look at that," he said. "I don't think it's a statistic that is that important. I think what's more important is doing the right thing, and we have the luxury of doing that, so you might see some guys sitting out for whatever reason - whether it's rest or whether it's not being totally 100 percent."

Julien also held out P.J. Axelsson and Phil Kessel yesterday. Axelsson and Dennis Wideman, both of whom sat out the previous two games with undisclosed injuries, practiced on Friday and said they were ready to go, and that they would have played last week if the games were important.

Kessel recently missed five games with what was believed to be a shoulder injury.

Chara appeared to get shaken up in the opening minute Thursday when he got the worst of an attempted hit into the boards on Alex Tanguay, but he wound up logging a game-high 28 minutes with a goal and an assist.

Defenseman Aaron Ward, who was high-sticked in the throat by Saku Koivu midway through the second period on Thursday, finished that game and played yesterday, but might get a maintenance day today.

When the Bruins left on this final trip, they didn't take along defenseman Andrew Ference, who missed the previous two games with an undisclosed injury, or center Patrice Bergeron, who was struck on the foot by a shot on Thursday but completed one of his best games of the season. He was a plus-3 with three shots, three hits, a goal and two assists, including the game-winning hit, takeaway and assist in overtime. He also drew two Montreal penalties.

Boston has eight defensemen on its roster, and called up forwards Vladimir Sobotka and Mikko Lehtonen from Providence over the last three days.

Julien knows that if a top four defenseman or a top six winger should go down in today's meaningless game, he'd never hear the end of it with the playoffs expected to begin Thursday and Saturday in Boston.

"To be honest with you, you just hold your breath that none of that stuff happens," Julien said. "We have to play those games; we can't sit everybody out. At the same time, the players want to play, they really do, they don't want to sit out. The reality of the game is injuries happen."

Stat check

Going into the final weekend, goalie Tim Thomas led the NHL by substantial margins in goals-against average (2.10) and save percentage (.933). At plus-36, Krejci holds a slim lead over Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk (plus-35) for league best, with Blake Wheeler right behind at plus-34. Wideman is in sixth at plus-32. Michael Ryder is just outside the top 10 with his plus-27, good for a tie for 11th.

Bruins players have tied or set 26 career highs in goals, assists, points, wins and/or shutouts so far this season. Going into today's final game, Chuck Kobasew needs two goals to equal last year's career high of 22, Steve Montador needs two points to tie last year's career high of 23.

Mark Recchi, after his four-point night (two goals, two assists) on Thursday, needed one point for his 15th 60-point season, and he got in on a third-period power-play goal yesterday. By the way, his shooting percentage for the Bruins is a sizzling .333 (ten goals on 30 shots). His seasonal percentage, including his Tampa Bay time, is .180, putting him in a tie for eighth with San Jose's Joe Thornton.

Chara needs one goal to become the eighth Bruin with 20 for the season. Lucic needs three to reach 20. Wideman needs one point for 50.

Julien coached his 400th game on Thursday night, 162 of them with Boston, 159 with Montreal, 79 with New Jersey. Going into the weekend, he was 93-47-22 with the Bruins, while his overall W-L-T-OL record was 212-133-10-45. ... With their sellout of 17,565 on Thursday, the Bruins finished with their second-highest total home attendance ever - 699,073, an average of 17,051. They had 26 sellouts, one shy of the record 27 they had during their top attendance season of 1995-96 (716,443).

Bud Barth can be reached at hbarth @telegram.com

There are many ways to choose an MVP, and these statistics aren't necessarily the best tools. But there is something to be said for game-winning goals and the Bruins' record when that player scores any goal, which is the subject of the first chart. The second chart shows the Bruins' record when that player records a point. The third chart shows the team's record when that player is not in the lineup, which means worst is best.

SCORING A GOAL

Player GWG Record

David Krejci 6 19-0-1

Michael Ryder 7 19-2-1

Marc Savard 4 17-2-3

Phil Kessel 6 20-6-3

Dennis Wideman 2 10-0-3

Blake Wheeler 3 13-3-1

Chuck Kobasew 3 13-2-3

GETTING A POINT

Player Record

David Krejci 37-2-5

Dennis Wideman 29-2-6

Blake Wheeler 27-3-2

Phil Kessel 28-7-5

Milan Lucic 25-6-3

Zdeno Chara 27-7-5

Chuck Kobasew 24-6-4

OUT OF THE LINEUP

Player Record

Michael Ryder 2-4-2

Stephane Yelle 2-3-0

P.J. Axelsson 2-1-2

Matt Hunwick 13-10-3 A good point

NAME: BOSTON BRUINS

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: The Bruins are 19-0-1 when David Krejci, above, scores a goal.