If Wednesday’s impressive victory in Denver provided a look at what this Bruins team truly can be — an explosive, up-tempo team that also maintains strong three-zone defensive structure — then the rather bizarre beginning to this season will be nothing more than an odd and cautionary footnote.
To sum up the Bruins’ losses in their first three games this season: They were trying to be something they are not, while losing sight of the very strengths that made them a top-level team most of the past decade.
So determined were the Bruins to play a more up-tempo game, with fast breakouts and transitions in their attack, that they abandoned the sound team defense that had been their key to everything — at least until last season, when pretty much every facet of play slipped.