Seven Points Out of Eight on the Road. Now the Bruins Come Home First in the Atlantic.

Nobody had the Bruins atop the Atlantic Division in late October on their bingo card. And yet, here we are.

Boston comes home tonight to face the Nashville Predators at TD Garden, puck drop 7 p.m., sitting at 7-2-1 with 15 points, first in the Atlantic, according to the NHL's standings. Nashville comes in at 3-2-3.

They got there by going on the road and refusing to lose in regulation. Four games, seven of a possible eight points. The last one was a 3-2 overtime loss in Dallas on Tuesday night, and even that came with a point attached.

The Dallas game

Matt Poitras put Boston up 1-0 just 2:09 in. Mason Lohrei kept a Stars clear in the zone, chipped it to Tanner Jeannot, Jeannot found rookie defenseman Frederic Brunet on the right side, and Brunet zipped it across to Poitras in the left circle for a one-timer, according to the Bruins' recap. That's Poitras' fourth goal of the season and his third in four games, and it stretched his point streak to four.

Poitras and Brunet came up together. "It was pretty cool to score a goal from him," Poitras said. "We've been playing together for the last few years and kind of just made our way up together. It's pretty cool to do that together."

Mikko Rantanen tied it at 2:50 of the second. Then James Hagens put Boston back in front at 7:30. Nikita Zadorov pushed it up to Casey Mittelstadt, Mittelstadt looped around the net and threw it in front, and Hagens tipped it in. Third goal of the year for Hagens, and his third point in three games.

Rantanen, though. He tied it again at 13:38 of the third and won it on the power play 3:52 into overtime.

Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves and kept it close all night, especially in OT, per the team.

What the room is saying

"I thought the guys played great; I really do. Deserved definitely a point. Unfortunate to give up the second point, but looking back, what a great road trip," coach Marco Sturm said. "It's been a long ride. We're excited to go home and see our families and also see our fans in a few days."

Asked what he learned about this group, Sturm kept it simple. "That we're right in there. It's nice to see that every game was pretty consistent. For a coach, that's what you're looking for," he said. "Doesn't matter – goalie, D, forwards – every line did their job."

Swayman: "It's hard to win in this league. We were all laughing – it's been the best trip ever, just because of the camaraderie, the way we've competed and just been able to stick together every single day."

And Zadorov, who was back in the lineup after sitting Saturday and logged 20:48 on the second pair with Will Borgen, put it in last-year terms. "If you compare it to last year, we started pretty well, and then we had those six games when we couldn't just get a bounce, and we lost those games. Now we're finding a way to win the games, even when we don't have our A game."

That last part is the whole thing. Good teams steal points on nights they aren't great. Boston did that four straight times.

The numbers that matter

David Pastrnak leads the team with 12 points, four goals and eight assists, according to NHL stats. Hagens has seven points, three goals and four assists. And Swayman is 6-1-1 with a .928 save percentage and a 1.98 goals-against average. That's the stat line of a guy carrying a team.

At home, Boston is 3-1-0 so far, per the standings.

Tonight's projected lines

PuckPedia's projection, via Boston Hockey Now, has Pavel Zacha centering JJ Peterka and Pastrnak on the top line. Line two: Marat Khusnutdinov, Fraser Minten and Morgan Geekie. Line three: Mittelstadt, Elias Lindholm and Hagens. Line four: Jeannot, Poitras and Mark Kastelic.

On defense: Hampus Lindholm with Charlie McAvoy, Zadorov with Borgen, and Brunet with Lohrei. Swayman is the projected starter with Michael DiPietro backing up. Projected scratches are Sean Kuraly, Jonathan Aspirot and Connor Clifton. That's a projection, not a confirmed lineup.

Nashville's projected top line is Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly and Steven Stamkos, according to the same projection. Veteran names, and a team that keeps getting dragged past regulation: three of Nashville's five losses have come in overtime or a shootout.

Bottom line: this is a game the Bruins should win at home after a trip like that. The question is whether there's a hangover from a week-plus on the road. Sturm says his team is "right in there." Tonight is the first chance to prove it in front of the home crowd.