Hot B’s good at playing catch-up

Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy believes his team’s 17-game points streak (13-0-4) has forced opponents to play with a strike-first mentality.

The Bruins have fallen behind 1-0 in six straight games, the latest being Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory against New Jersey when Myles Wood scored for the Devils at 2:05 of the second period.

“The Jersey game, they were on a back-to-back (games), and I think they were on a mini-losing streak, and they didn’t score the night before,” Cassidy said. “I do believe there was a message there that we have to be the better team early on.”

The Bruins failed to score first in their recent three-game sweep of the Montreal Canadiens, an overtime home loss to the Dallas Stars and a road win against the New York Islanders.

Cassidy addressed the subject of early deficits following yesterday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena. The Bruins will look to extend their streak tonight when they take on the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“It started in like with the Dallas game at home, for example, and I didn’t think we had our best early on,” Cassidy said. “The (second) Montreal game, I thought we were good early, but they got a fortunate bounce early, and I thought we were the better team in the first period. Up there in Montreal, we wanted to be a little bit better with them coming off a back-to-back, but there is a lot of juice in that rivalry, so I get that one.

“But in general, our starts are not where we want them to be.”

The last Bruins player to draw first blood was forward Ryan Spooner in the 6-5 overtime loss at Pittsburgh on Jan. 7.

“Sometimes you just go through pockets of stretches where you are not as sharp at the puck drop,” Cassidy said. “Some of that is teams understanding how well we are playing, and there is a level of urgency right from the get-go.”

Blue-line togetherness

Cassidy intends to stay with his realigned defensive pairings against the Senators after rookie Charlie McAvoy underwent a procedure for an abnormal heart rhythm Tuesday at Mass General. McAvoy will be out for two weeks.

McAvoy’s partner, captain Zdeno Chara, was paired with Brandon Carlo on the first unit against the Devils. Puck mover Torey Krug and rugged, stay-at-home defenseman Adam McQuaid formed the second tandem, while rookie Matt Grzelcyk is back with usual partner Kevan Miller.

And Tuukka Rask will start in goal tonight.

“We want to get better and improve with every guy back there,” Cassidy said. “Losing Charlie hurts, and maybe his greatest strength is the ability to move the puck under pressure.”

Health report update

Center Patrice Bergeron and winger Noel Acciari were excused from practice for maintenance purposes but were expected to make the trip. Bergeron took his shifts against the Devils despite feeling under the weather. Acciari was out with a lower-body issue.

Cassidy felt confident Bergeron would play but was less certain about Acciari.