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Coach Julien hoping Bruins learned from ‘bad’ first period

Claude Julien

The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks have both proven that they can bounce back from an early deficit. That doesn’t mean a strong start isn’t important and Bruins coach Claude Julien certainly doesn’t want to see another first period like the one he saw during the Bruins eventual 2-1 overtime win on Saturday.

Chicago outshot Boston 19-4 through 20 minutes and the Bruins’ might have been effectively out of the game at that point if not for goaltender Tuukka Rask.

“I felt we had a really slow start,” Julien said during Sunday’s press conference. “I felt our team was ready to play, knowing our players. I was really surprised to see how much we played on our heels.

“You know, you have to give the other team credit. They came out hard. They deserved that credit. We didn’t respond well.”

Julien suggested he might bring his players in earlier today to prevent a similar start, but he also feels that Saturday’s early performance was uniquely bad by Boston’s standards. With that in mind, he doesn’t expect history to repeat itself tonight.

“You learn from past mistakes,” Julien said. “That’s a mistake I think our team hopefully has learnt. We’re going to go back and play the same way.”

Of course, Boston still won that game and put themselves in a great position in the process. Game 3 will start at 8:00 p.m. ET.

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