Corvo gets confidence booster

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BOSTON -- Joe Corvo runs off of confidence.

You can see it in his play. You can hear it in his voice. And after Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the TD Garden, you could hear it from his coach.

"With Joe, it is all about confidence," said Claude Julien after the loss. "With Joe, sometimes he makes a mistake, and he carries that on for too long. He's got to let go of those things and build on what he does well. He had some great opportunities tonight again."

With that said, it didn't look like Corvo's confidence level would be too high by the time Penguins forward Matt Cooke grinded home a rebound out front in the opening minutes of the third period.

Cooke's goal put Pittsburgh up 2-0, and was the result of Corvo getting out-worked in front of the net. Penguins forward Dustin Jeffrey put a soft pass out front, and Corvo tried to knock it out of the crease, but his attempt wasn't good enough, and as the puck sat in front of him, Cooke looked like he wanted it more, and beat Corvo to the loose rubber.

"The goal against, Corvo's standing in front of the net and you hoped that he had a better battle on that," said Julien. "But he's no different than everybody else that's going through this. We've got to improve ourselves as individuals, if we want to be a better hockey club."

As an individual, Corvo's confidence may have also taken a hit in the second period, when he crept up for a one-timer at the lower-right circle during a four-minute Bruins power play.

Corvo received a nice pass through the slot, but his right-handed shot made it difficult for him to lift it over Marc-Andre Fleury's left pad.

"It was a tough cross-body, one-timer redirection," said Corvo. "Just a tough play for me to make. It was a great pass, but it's a lot easier if the pass is coming from low to high."

If Corvo had put that one-timer in, he would have snapped a 21-game goal drought. That missed opportunity combined with the Cooke goal, certainly wasn't a confidence booster for the defenseman who runs off confidence.

But 6:45 into the third period, trailing 2-0, Corvo did what Julien and the rest of the Bruins would like him to do more often -- quickly put the negative stuff behind him.

Corvo took a pass at the left point, and let go a high wrist shot that found the top-right corner of the net, thanks in part to a Brad Marchand screen out front.

It cut the Penguins' lead to 2-1, with plenty of time left to get another.

That never happened, and the Bruins lost their second-straight game on Saturday afternoon.

But as Julien noted after the loss, these B's need to improve themselves as individuals. And Corvo is no exception. That's why his goal on Saturday was a big one.

It boosted his confidence. At least, that's what he hopes.

"I'm taking it that way," said Corvo. "Anything positive, I'm going to take and run with it, and try to carry it into the next game and make me feel good out there and play well. I'll definitely try and carry that on."

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