John Bishop is the beat writer for BostonBruins.com. He covers the Black & Gold hoping to offer a positive look at the team, not only from the stands and the press box, but also from inside the locker room. A graduate of Boston U. and Northeastern, 'Bish' grew up in Connecticut and moved to the Hub of Hockey in 1993. Since then he has made all four rinks at the Beanpot schools, as well as both Gardens, his icebound homes away from home. Prior to joining the TD Banknorth Garden staff in 2005, Bishop had written for several publications, with his primary focus being college hockey. He coauthored the book Bygone Boston in 2003 and hopes someday to pen a bio of Hobey Baker.

There were no tirades this morning at Bruins practice.

No on-ice lectures. No sprints. Just work.

Period.

And judging by his comments following last night's game, Head Coach Claude Julien believed that his team has made some strides since they commenced training camp, and indeed, gave the Stanley Cup champs all they could handle.

But there will be no easing off the gas peddle for the Los Angeles Kings.

"When you really look at their roster they are a really skilled hockey team," said Julien. "And the one thing I know is that (after) last night's game they are (there's) no doubt they are going to come out strong.

"We have to be ready for that.

"(Although) they are a young hockey club, they are a highly talented," he said.

The Kings have the ability to put some points on the board, quick.

"They'll open up," said Coach. "There's no doubt that the guys that they have a lot of firepower and they are going to go on the attack.

"(And) They are a team that likes to shut down the...neutral zone."

So the Bruins will have their hands full tomorrow night.

"If you want to score goals you have to be determined to put the puck (in the zone) and bear down," said Julien. "We would have had more scoring chances if we put the puck in deep a little more.

"We did that early on, and we seemed to have some momentum and some chances.
But as the game went on… there were a lot of pucks that just barely made it over the blue line.

"We weren't getting it in deep and it was hard for us to get anything going," he said.

Help on the way?

Will Savvy rejoin Bergy and the Bruins on Friday?

Despite the 2-1 loss to the Ducks, there was some good news Thursday morning -- Marc "Savvy" Savard was on the ice and seemed to be showing no ill effects from the core injury sustained during the Phoenix game last Saturday.

"I hope so," said Coach. "He's still day to day (but) he felt better today.

"We're going to let him skate tomorrow morning and make that decision, then.

"It was optimistic, today. But not definite."

Today's lineup...

Gold: Axelsson, Kobasew, Metropolit,
Savard, Schaefer, Thornton
White: Bergeron, Bochenski, Kessel,
Krejci, Lucic, Murray, Reich
Black: Alberts, Chara, Ference,
Stuart, Ward, Wideman
Goal: Fernandez, Thomas