At this time last month, the wheels were starting to flatten for the Boston Bruins. Their offense, inconsistent. Their defense, subpar. Their goaltending, not as good as the year before.

What a difference a few weeks make.

After two disappointing losses to the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes to start the first month of 2015, the Black and Gold turned things around, losing just twice the rest of January – and only once in regulation. Their goaltender, Tuukka Rask, was the main reason for that turnaround.

Related: Rask named Bruins Daily Player of the Week

Rask, who was named the third star of the month by the NHL on Monday, posted stellar numbers. The reigning Vezina winner went 7-1-3, with a 1.61 goals against average, a .963 save percentage and one shutout.

As a result, Rask and the Bruins have vaulted up the Eastern Conference standings with 61 points (27-16-7) and have the first wild card spot. Not bad for a team that was on the outside looking in of a playoff spot a month ago.

“We’ve talked about it for a long time and you know this last month he’s been on fire,” head coach Claude Julien said about Rask after the Bruins’ 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. “I said that [at Saturday’s morning skate] – you know, you ride a goaltender that’s hot as much as you can without you know doing some damage. But again, he made some huge saves at some opportune times.”

Julien is clearly riding the hot Rask as he’s started the B’s last eight games. The Finnish goalie will likely make his ninth straight start on Wednesday night against the Rangers – the same team he shutout in the first meeting between the two teams. His career numbers against the Blueshirts are pretty impressive as well: 7-3-3, 1.91 GAA, .937 SV% and three career shutouts.

Certainly, Rask will be ready for the opportunity to improve his numbers against the Rangers on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. His teammates have been opportunistic as well.

The last two games saw Rask made highlight reel stops against the Islanders (as part of a 41-save performance) and Kings (30 saves). Because of that, the Bruins always have a chance to win, even if things aren’t going their way – a far cry from earlier in the season.

An example of this came during their recent slate where the Isles and Kings tied the game after the Bruins took an early lead. The B’s struck quickly in both games, however, as Kevan Miller’s late second period goal in Long Island gave the Black and Gold a 3-2 lead with 3.4 seconds left. Two nights later, Jordan Nolan tied the game in the third, but Chris Kelly’s tally off Carl Soderberg’s shot from the point put Boston ahead for good.

On both instances, Rask gave up soft goals to Nolan and another to John Tavares (after deciding to play the puck instead of freezing it). But like his teammates, he was able to bounce back and deliver “Two U’s, Two K’s and Two points.”

“It’s been happening for a few games now where we get scored on in a tight game and we change it and keep going,” Rask said after the win over the Kings. “Earlier in the year, we get scored on and it took us five, ten minutes to get back into the game. And now it’s different, so it’s good.”

With January behind them, Rask and the Bruins hope to keep the momentum going in February. Following the Rangers game, they’ll welcome the Islanders and Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and Sunday night in a rare back to back slate at TD Garden.

One can assure that Rask will have a big say in those outcomes.

“He’s definitely playing great, and we need that from him if we’re going to win and we’re going to come back and make a climb,” said Brad Marchand, who scored twice on Saturday. “We’re going to need him to be big every night, and he has been so far. So, we owe him a lot of credit, and hopefully he continues to play the same way.”