Heading into Tuesday’s second half of a back-to-back with the Ottawa Senators the Boston Bruins were looking to end a pair of skids. Winless in their last three and held without a power play goal in their last four, the Bruins snapped both skids Tuesday in what was an entertaining and physical contest.

Prior to pre-game warmups, it appeared that the Bruins would be without two of their top-five power play point scorers in David Krejci (upper-body) and Torey Krug (undisclosed). The Bruins were given a pleasant surprise when Krug suited up for warmups and was deemed good to go for what was eventually a Bruins 7-3 victory over the Senators.

“So one of the issues this morning to be honest with you, as coaches, we weren’t expecting him (Krug) to be in the lineup tonight and then we got some news at some point that it was a good possibility,” head coach Claude Julien said of Krug’s situation.

“He skated this morning and felt good, so we had to make a decision based on that. So I guess it was good news when you lose a guy like Krejci and then, at least, you get some good news as well and kind of balance it a little bit.”

Still without Krejci, who sits second on the team in power play points, the Bruins now struggling power play was forced to figure things out against a Senators penalty kill that ranks in the bottom ten in all of the NHL.

Based off the results, the Bruins surely figured things out.

Two power play tallies by Patrice Bergeron and single power play strikes by Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes was exactly what the Bruins needed to snap their losing streak and snap their power play goal drought.

Without Krug in the lineup for Sunday’s loss to the Senators and almost all of Saturday’s loss to the Sabres, the 24-year old defenseman made a big impact in his return. Assisting on Bergeron’s two power play goals, Krug picked up career points number 99 and 100.

“It was great, being out there just makes you realize how much Krech [Krejci] does for us. We had a couple times where it was tough to get that zone entry and even up top when we were playing with the puck it was tough,” Krug told the media after the victory. “So he does a lot for us, and it was nice to obviously see the results and both units did it, it wasn’t just our unit out there. I think both units were great.”

With his two power play goals on Tuesday, Bergeron now trails Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane by one point for the lead league in power play points. After a rough go of late for the Bruins power play, Bergeron was excited to see things click on the man advantage.

“For sure. It was important,” said Bergeron, who now leads the team in points with 35. “It’s nice to have four, we’ll definitely take it, but at the same time, it’s nice to come in and taking what’s there, not forcing plays. I thought we were doing too much of that lately.”

It’s not just the power play that took a hit when Krejci was deemed “week-to-week,” the offense as a whole took a hit, too. In their first full game without Krejci, the Bruins got contribution from both their top-six and bottom-six forwards.

With the lines juggled up a bit due to the Krejci injury, some new lines paid dividends for head coach Claude Julien and his staff.

Hayes who was lined up to the right of Zac Rinaldo and Max Talbot on the fourth line, and Matt Beleskey to the left of Ryan Spooner and Loui Eriksson, both had big nights as Beleskey scored twice and Hayes chipped in with his first career National Hockey League hat trick.

“Yeah, you know it’s first time getting a hat-trick in the NHL,” said Hayes. “And I haven’t been scoring many goals as of lately, it was nice to get some confidence going.”

Now with the Winter Classic on the horizon, the Bruins can finally look ahead to the much-anticipated contest against the Canadiens where they hope the offense continues to strike.

“Oh, there is no doubt it’s always better to win a hockey game, I’m not going to lie about that. Our guys have played well like I said but haven’t won but the win makes it feel a lot better,” said Julien. ”Hopefully, we can enjoy a day tomorrow over there with family, relax and then get back to work the following day preparing for that big game.”