The Bruins have been a resilient and admirable group for the most part this season. But the depleted B’s learned on Monday night that vim and vigor can take you only so far in the National Hockey League.

The Carolina Hurricanes were clearly the better team at the Garden and used two second period goals to power their way to the 3-1 win at the Garden

With half of their top-six forward group missing (Viktor Arvidsson, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt) and their top defenseman (Charlie McAvoy) out as well, the B’s were up against it from the get-go. They’d been playing without the center Lindholm and Mittelstadt for a few games and pretty much survived those absences, but the losses of McAvoy and Arvidsson appeared to be camel’s backbreaker, at least against a team as good as Carolina.

Hampus Lindholm did not want to take the excuse that was there for his team.

“I don’t think that’s any excuse at all. We still have to play to our identity,” said the defenseman. “That’s what’s been making us successful this year. We don’t want to get too high or too low here. We’ve been playing some good hockey and tonight was a night we can learn form and move forward.”

The B’s did not have their usual energy. It was certainly not at the level that it was at on Saturday night for their big win in Montreal.

“We talked about it in the room before the game among the players, I think it was (Hampus Lindholm) who brought it up, we’ve got to find a way to be emotional for this one, too. They’re not all going to be at the Bell Centre on Hockey Night in Canada, but at the end of the day it’s still a very worthy opponent and every game matters,” said Alex Steeves. “We didn’t have enough emotion.”

Given the situation, it was just as well that the scoreless first period was low-event hockey.

Both sides traded unsuccessful power plays and shots were 10-9 in favor of Carolina, which had the better chances in the opening 20 minutes. Jeremy Swayman, outstanding in the win over Montreal on Saturday, appeared to be locked in as well.

The B’s best chance in the first came late in the period when Marat Khusnutdinov found himself in the slot with a clear look at the net but, being overly deferential, passed it to Morgan Geekie, who was not in great position to score at the side of the net.

The Canes started to tilt the ice more early in the second, when they got the best chance of the game to that point when Seth Jarvis was sprung for clean break-in, but Swayman gloved the young star’s five-hole attempt.

Carolina finally took the lead at 8:25 of the second. The B’s had some recurring trouble breaking out of their zone and they got into chase mode on the icebreaker. Hampus Lindholm and Geekie got tangled up out high, allowing Joel Nystrom to put a shot toward the net. The rebound dropped in front of Jordan Staal, who was able to impressively hold off the Bruin defender Andrew Peeke with one hand and shovel it home shortside with the other.

The Canes continued to wear down the B’s and doubled the lead at 13:34. Seconds after David Pastrnak just missed picking off a pass that could have resulted in a breakaway,, Taylor Hall landed a rebound-producing shot on net and Mark Jankowski was there to lift it over Swayman for the 2-0 Carolina advantage.

Coach Marco Sturm sensed the lack of energy both at the morning skate and before the game, which he chalked up to the schedule rather than the missing players.

“Mentally, physically not 100 percent today, that’s for sure,” said Sturm, who had no further update on McAvoy after the key defenseman took a puck to the mouth on Saturday.

When the B’s have struggled, it often has gone back to trouble on the breakouts.

“The details matter,” said Sturm. “You could see on the goals against, you don’t get the puck out and all of a sudden it ends up in your net. Those are little things we have to learn throughout the season.”

While Pastrnak, Lindholm and Geekie all finished at minus-2, Sturm felt like this was a night he could have used a boost from some role players.

“A game like today, I felt like some other guys had to step up, too,” he said. “You can’t always look at No. 88 or 91 or 27…You need other guys to step up as well. That was a little bit missing today.”

Sturm tried switching up his lines, moving Pastrnak with Fraser Minten and Tanner Jeannot while Mark Kastelic bumped up to play with Geekie and Khusnutdinov but it couldn’t jumpstart the offense.

The B’s got a late power play but the best scoring chance was to Jarvis, who could not convert a clean breakaway, hitting the post after drawing Swayman out.

Carolina outshot the B’s 13-7 in the second but the shot attempts through two periods were 60-24 in favor of the Canes. For the game, Carolina held an 80-48 edge.

With the Canes in lead-protection mode, the B’s surged a bit in the third but couldn’t find find the back of the net. After the B’s could not convert on a late power play, Taylor Hall extinguished all hope when he kept the puck on a 2-on-1 and was allowed to tuck it home with 2:33 remaining. Riley Tufte, one of the two call-ups (Matej Blumel was the other), added a meaningless power-play goal with 9.6 seconds left to spoil Pyotr Kochetkov’s light-lifting shutout bid.

Now the B’s head out on a tough four-game road trip to Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and Long Island. If they can’t figure out a way to manufacture some scoring when it matters, it’s going to be a long one.