Other than the first part of the second period, the Bruins seemed in disarray, unable to consistently build an offensive attack. The visitors were seemingly beaten with every loose puck in the neutral zone and in their own goal.

Falling behind leads to penalties, and for a team struggling to build an offensive identity — the Bruins have scored just one non-empty goal in their last seven periods — spending time in the box is deadly.

A shortage of employees disrupts synergy and shortens your bench. In the case of the Bruins, that means not enough ice time for their most dangerous player, David Pastrnak.

“Well, Pasta only had 9:30, I think, after two periods because we had to kill (five) minors,” coach Jim Montgomery said.

Pastrnak, who landed a game-high six shots, played heavy minutes in the third period (ending 16:18), but by then the Bruins trailed 2-0.

Nikita Zadorov, who has had at least one minor penalty in all seven games this season, agreed that taking excessive penalties messes up the game plan.

“A lot,” he said. “I mean, some guys who sit for ten minutes and don’t get their shifts lose their legs, it takes away the momentum of the game and gives momentum to all the other teams.” ,

What has made the Bruins successful in recent seasons is their ruthlessness, ability to pressure opposing puck carriers and take away their time and space. Their sticks are always on the ice and they create turnovers across the entire 60 meters of ice.

The Bruins avoided that for a long time against Utah and Nashville.

How can you prevent this from becoming a persistent problem?

“I think number one is that we stick together,” Montgomery said. “Number 2 is that we have a process that has given us a lot of success. We have to get back to that. Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that we do not start on time or that we do not complete the 60 minute playing time.

“You look at the first seven minutes of the second, that was Bruins hockey. Why do we deviate from that? Part of that is we just have to continue to believe in patience and in the process.”

When it comes to the stagnant offense, Charlie Coyle believes being more determined to get to the crease is the No. 1 priority.

“I just have to find ways to get more access to the grid,” he said. “It’s usually a simple fix, and watching a video might not give us as much insight into the internals as we need. Sometimes you have to fight your way to achieve those goals. Recovery occurs on the second, third and fourth attempts.

“That starts with going to the net, simplifying things and putting yourself in positions to get shots, receive passes, get to the net, get rebounds. Most of the time you just have to simplify things; Sometimes you can think about it too much.”

Montgomery has had to introduce a lot of new faces into his system, so a sample size of seven games is too small to make him reach for the panic button.

“We’re still building, aren’t we?” Coyle said. “You don’t stop building until the season is over, and we have a lot of new faces and sometimes it takes a while to get used to what you don’t think about at all, you’re just playing hockey, and that’s when you play at your best. You don’t think about it. ‘Where should I be? What is our system?’

“So that will continue to get better as we get more reps in practice as we play more games. That should tighten as we move forward.”

For guys who might be gripping their sticks a little too hard and fighting the puck a little too much, Montgomery had a simple message.

“Just to keep working,” he said. “We cannot beat ourselves. It’s a long season. We have to keep grinding. We have to get better and better every day.”

…

The Bruins had Wednesday night off after an early morning arrival after a weeklong road trip. They skate Thursday morning before taking on the Stars at TD Garden that evening and the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Jim McBride can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @globejimmcbride.