A 17-game month of March had a chance to make or break the Boston Bruins. Historically, it’s been a nightmare for the club, too. In 2012, the B’s won just nine of 18 games. In 2011, they won just seven of 15. And the year before that, they won eight of 16 games in March. More often not, staying around the .500 mark throughout the month has been the norm. But this time around, the Black-and-Gold went a downright absurd 15-1-1 and avoided a single major (or even minor) injury.

Yes, I know: Unbelievable.

Obviously, the importance of seizing 31 of a possible 34 points goes without saying, especially in an Eastern Conference playoff picture that seemingly puts the Bruins in the driver’s seat of a more than favorable matchup against the East’s lower wild card seed. That likely puts you out of range against a veteran team like Detroit (a team that’s always given the B’s fits), and more in line to face a Columbus, Washington, or Toronto, teams you’ve handled rather easily this year (aside from a down game or two). Again, the importance of that latter matchup rather than the former goes without saying.

Seeing this sort of dominance from the B’s has been rare, too. I mean, even in 2008-09, when they cruised to the top record in the East and fell just one point shy of the Presidents’ Trophy, the Bruins went a mild 7-5-1 in March. There was an obvious and inevitable dip in their play then.

But not this time. For 17 games, the Bruins were a buzzsaw. And no, there’s no other way to put it, really. They outscored opponents 59-to-27, had a 12-game winning streak, tied a franchise record for consecutive road wins, and almost never trailed (or at least it seemed that way).

Things went so well for the Bruins that you’d be more confused than anything else when they had trouble with a team for whatever reason or seemed to sleep through a period or two.

They certainly had some ‘gimmes’ along the way though, too. Two battles with the woeful Florida Panthers helped kickstart the Bruins’ offense, while battles with the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils did the same. And then there were three games with the Washington Capitals, a team the Bruins were able to simply dominate in two of three contests, especially at 5-on-5. But you can also say that statements were made when they handled desperation clubs like Minnesota, Phoenix (twice), and against Montreal and Colorado (in their buildings no less), Chicago, and versus a white-hot Philadelphia squad via the shootout in their last game of the month.

What Bruins fans should like about March the most though was the offensive explosion of some of the forward core’s projected (read as: hopeful) MVPs this spring. Jarome Iginla, the NHL’s first star of the month, had 13 goals and 17 points in as many goals. It was the 36-year-old Iginla’s first month of at least 10 goals since March 2011 (he had 12 in 14 games for Calgary back then), and his first 13-goal month since Nov. 2009. If you want to dig back, you’ll remember that time as the first time Iginla’s name began to circle around the rumor mill with links to Boston, with Iginla rumored to be on the table for ‘em at the price of Milan Lucic/Tuukka Rask and more.

Iginla’s hot streak pushed him to 30 goals in 2013-14, becoming just the third 30-goal scorer in the Julien Era of Bruins hockey (Phil Kessel had 36 in 2008-09, Lucic had 30 in 2010-11).

The club’s second line center, Patrice Bergeron, also broke through and finished the month with a goal in seven straight games (eight goals over that stretch, and 11 in 17 games total).

“I think it’s pretty clear to everyone that’s watched him play that he values every part of his game,” head coach Claude Julien said last week when asked of Bergeron’s play. “Whether it’s faceoff percentage, whether it’s plus/minus, whether he’s responsible for a goal against – he takes those things every seriously and he’s hard on himself when it comes to that. So, I think he’s proud of what he is. He’s comfortable in the role that he’s asked to play and at the same time, it’s always nice to see guys like that get rewarded with some decent stats, which he deserves.”

Bergeron’s play has been so consistently strong and on point over the past month that he’s become a sudden candidate for Hart Trophy consideration for the first time in his career.

But now, with a nine point lead and just seven games to go before the start of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it’s time for the B’s to look ahead, prepare and most of all, rest. Iginla could use a day off. Bergeron, too. But most of all, the 37-year-old Zdeno Chara could benefit from some rest.

Everybody knows the Chara story of 2012-13 by now. He was absolutely gassed by the end of last year’s Cup Final against the Blackhawks, and with vets like Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid unlikely set to go for the postseason, Chara’s playoff minutes are gonna be insane.

Maybe that’s why the normal warrior-like defensemen isn’t too shocked by talk of nights off.

“We’ve been managing the days off pretty well. We get some extra ones. We try to make sure when there was a really heavy schedule in March that we got some overnights. We tried to save some of the heavy traveling right after the games,” Chara noted after last week’s shutout of the defending champion Blackhawks, adding, “You have to be really smart, like I said, individually. You have to take care of yourself. You can’t be doing things that’s going to make you tired—long walks, things like that. You’ve just got to really rest up and be smart about it nutrition wise as well.

“But I’m still enjoying the workouts. I really love the extra work. It’s one of those things that I will always do no matter what. Like I said, I’m enjoying every day and every minute that I’m at the rink,” he continued. “I’m trying to be obviously the best I can. Doing the extra work off the ice or on the ice, it’s part of it. You have to love it, and I really do love hard work and competing. I just love to maintain my physical balance with kind of a mental rest, too. I just enjoy it.”

With eight defensemen on the roster, and with Ryan Spooner called up from Providence on an emergency basis on Tuesday afternoon, the healthy scratches seem to be on the way.

And after last month’s preview of what could be come playoff time if these guys are rolling at full strength up and down the lineup, you won’t hear anybody saying that these guys don’t deserve it.

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