"Claude Julien isn't much for punishment practices and he didn't call yesterday's session one, either.

But it had to get his players' attention.

The roughly hour-long session started with a battle drill. It ended with a battle drill. And in between, there were a few more battle drills, with Julien occasionally barking at players to keep digging. By the end of it, the players left the Ristuccia Arena ice with their sweat-drenched jerseys clinging to their equipment.

Such is life when you're a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and you've lost half of your last dozen games, the most recent of which was the 6-0 pummeling at the hands of the out-of-the-playoff-picture Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night."