B’s better get back to the grind

TAMPA — In an 82-game schedule, not every game is worthy of a big buildup. So while the Bruins will be missing marquee players against the Eastern Conferenceleading Tampa Bay Lightning tonight, that makes it no less of a big game.

The B’s head in trailing the Lightning by four points with a game in hand. If they can pull out a win, catching Tampa Bay becomes doable.

Now whether you’d to overtake the Lightning and possibly face a dangerous Metropolitan Division team like New Jersey or Columbus in the playoffs is another debate.

A victory against the Steve Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman-led crew would seem like a steep task for the B’s with Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Charlie McAvoy and Jake DeBrusk out of the lineup.

It will take a fair amount of grit.

“We’re in a blue collar, back to a workmanlike mentality, kind of the way we were earlier in the year when we had significant players out in numbers,” said forward David Backes. “The rest of the guys have to find their work boots, their lunch pails and hard hats, go out there and be hard to play against, probably look for a 2-1 game rather than a 6-5 game and let the chips fall where they may. As the high end skill guys filter back in, if we find that blue collar kind of a game, that’s when we were at our best, getting points every game, because we had that infused with skill and it’s a tough combination to play against.”

Good news for the Bruins is that Backes will be in the lineup after receiving a match penalty for a hit on Florida’s Vincent Trocheck in Thursday’s 3-0 loss to the Panthers. The hit did not warrant a suspension.

The bad news? The B’s are not playing their best hockey right now, and it goes beyond the missing personnel. They’ve been loose defensively, and given up the first goal in all three games of this four-game swing. Forgotten in their terrific fivegoal, third-period comeback against Carolina is the fact they played their worst period of the season that night.

Coach Bruce Cassidy likened where the Bruins are now to the crossroads they faced after losing to Anaheim on Nov. 15. He called out his defense after the game and got immediate results. Back then, the season was in danger of going off the rails. Now, they have to rally again to go as far as their record suggests.

“As a team we need to change our mentality a little bit in terms of ‘OK, were getting down the home stretch here. Let’s not put ourselves in deficits as often. Play better defensively, more mindful of what gets you in trouble defensively,’ ” said Cassidy. “One of the goals against the other night, we didn’t get a puck deep on a fairly straight forward play late in the shift. That’s a detail of the game to me that led to some of the breakdown that we need to be better at. Some of that was happening at the start of the year.”

Cassidy wants the players who’ve come into the lineup because of the injuries on defense to step up.

“Similar to with Bergy, we’re not asking anyone to be Charlie, we’re not asking anyone to be Z. Be yourself but be your best self,” said Cassidy.

To win tonight, the B’s will need just about everyone to be their best from goalie Tuukka Rask on out.