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Boston’s top line looking tough to stop once again

Nathan Horton, David Krejci, Johnny Boychuk

Boston Bruins right wing Nathan Horton, top right, is congratulated by teammates David Krejci (46), of the Czech Republic, and Johnny Boychuk, center, after his goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Boston, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

AP

BOSTON, MA -- Last season the Bruins’ top line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Nathan Horton saw more downs than ups. The line was broken up for a bit and later on, Horton was lost to a season-ending concussion.

This season, the trio has been reunited and it’s just like 2011 all over again as all three are clicking with each other. Last night, the trio combined to score their only goal in regulation in a 2-1 shootout win over the Devils. The good news for Bruins fans is that they’re all keeping a level head about things.

“We’ve been playing together for some time now,” Krejci said. “It feels good though. We’re winning, our line’s doing good. That’s what everyone expects from us. We don’t get too high on ourselves. We know that’s what we should do and if we didn’t do that, we didn’t do our job. So far I like what I see from those two guys and I’m trying to help them out as much as I can and they’re trying to help me out. So far, so good.”

Horton, meanwhile, kept his line’s and the team’s success in check.

“They’re great players,” Horton said. “It’s fun for me to play with them. They’re special, just like everyone else on the team. It’s fun to be a part of this and great guys make it a lot of fun.”

If anyone might be viewed as “excited” it’s coach Claude Julien. His enthusiasm about their play, however, stems from them having concerns heading into the season.

“This was a line that had a question mark on it,” Julien said. “One guy hadn’t played in a year [Horton] and the other guy didn’t play at all so far since the beginning of the year [Lucic] and David was the only one having played. Being one of our top lines… We want to be able to rely on those guys. We have and they’ve certainly given us exactly what we need right now.”

With the Bruins atop the Eastern Conference with 11 points and a 5-0-1 record, the more that top line keeps rolling, the more trouble they’ll bring their opponents.