The Bruins may not be the most gifted goal scoring team these days, but they do have their assets.

The one that seems to be working for them most lately is their size – and their increased willingness to use it. It has sometimes been a slow process, but they’ve been grinding teams down lately and it’s paid off in the win column.

Let’s look at their current four-game win streak. The B’s nearly doubled up the Flyers in hits in their 4-3 overtime win on Saturday, outhitting them 33-18.

In their 4-2 win over Chicago, the B’s held a 22-12 edge in hits. In another third period comeback win against the Red Wings, the B’s held an astounding 40-14 hit advantage. And in the game that started their win streak, they outhit the Canadiens, 26-18.

As has been pointed out before, hits are a funny stat. When one team piles them up, it can sometimes mean that they simply never have the puck and are chasing the game. That has not been the case for the B’s in their win streak.

“I think we’re getting the message. We’re getting there. It’s still something that we want to keep building upon. It makes a difference,” said coach Joe Sacco. “When you have to defend in this league, I don’t care how well your team defends, eventually you will wear down over time and there’ll be some breakdowns. There’ll be some cracks. We’re trying to play behind more. We want our guys to make plays if the opportunities there off the rush if you have space in the neutral zone. We’re not telling people not to make plays. But it’s a tough league to get through the neutral zone and the more we stay committed to playing behind, getting on the forecheck and then from there wearing teams down, hopefully they break down and we’re able to cash in on opportunities.”

It’s an identity that’s been there in the past, though Charlie McAvoy conceded it had gone a little dormant.

“We always knew what we had in here,” said McAvoy. “It was what our style needed to be, that was a big part of it, being a physical team, being a bigger team that wants to play fast and wants to use our size. There were pockets where we weren’t doing that and we were trying to figure out what we were. I think we know what we are now. We’ve been playing to our standard, to a better standard. What’s exciting is we’re starting to see results, we’re starting to play better. We can still get better in every aspects and the sky’s the limit for this group.”

Frederic delivers

Trent Frederic has not enjoyed the kind of production a pending free agent would like to have, but on Saturday, he showed up in a big way. He scored a pair of goals (his fourth and fifth of the season) and doled out a team-high seven hits.

“I thought he started to move his feet better as the game went on and he was direct and he was attacking the net,” said Sacco. “I just noticed him around the net front quite a bit and that’s a good sign for Freddy. Again, that line is effective, they go out and do their job, play hard, they’re tenacious on the puck. Freddy was an example of that. That was a good example for how he has to play to be successful.”

Frederic, playing on a line with Charlie Coyle and Mark Kastelic, scored in the first game of the season and then not again until he scored twice against St. Louis in Jim Montgomery’s second to last game of the season.

Has the contract status created more pressure on him?

“I’d like to say no but you never know. Maybe a little bit internally,” said Frederic. “But I feel like every year I’ve been in the NHL I’ve been fighting to stay in it and fighting to get another contract. I don’t know if that’s just in my head, but that’s how it feels. You can see guys get replaced easily in the NHL. I feel like every year’s like that. But there’s definitely a little bit (of pressure), but nothing crazy, nothing I haven’t been doing in the past.”

Loose pucks

The Flyers took eight minor penalties, including three in the third period. Let’s just say Philly coach John Tortorella didn’t think they were all earned.

“Let me start: One thing I teach my team to do is not dive,” said Tortorella. “Maybe I should start teaching them that. The way this has gone here, the way this (expletive) goes on, maybe I should teach them to dive.”

Tortorella didn’t call anyone out by name.

“I’m not going to go too far into it,” Tortorella said. “That’s one of the things we talk about as a team: ‘We’ve got to play an honest game. There’s no cheating, there’s no embarrassing referees. You don’t embarrass the referees.’ ”

The Flyers lost a third period lead for the second straight game after losing to the Panthers earlier in the week.

“The (stuff) that went on here tonight is just ridiculous,” he said. “I’m proud of the way our team played. Did we piss another one away? Yeah.”… The Bruins will now embark on a two-week, five-game road trip against four playoff teams, starting in Winnipeg on Tuesday.