Bruins must get back to their structure post-holiday break ‘before it’s too late’

BOSTON — The Bruins deemed Tuesday’s game against the Canadiens a “must-win” one, knowing they went into the matchup on a three-game losing streak and the holiday break approaching.

Despite a strong start, two fights that got the TD Garden crowd fired up and keeping pace with Montreal, things fell apart in the third period.

Mental and physical fatigue played a part in the 6-2 loss. While there’s still a lot of hockey left to be played, the Bruins know getting back on track is necessary.

“We have structure that we know works and gave us success throughout the season so far. We have to get to back to it before it’s too late,” David Pastrnak said after the loss. “We gotta get back to the details and structure that we know works. A lot of mental mistakes that cost us games. Hopefully everybody can spend a couple days with the family and come back recharged because it’s not gonna get easier in the second half of the year.”

The loss put the Bruins outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but the standings are tight. Just six points separates Boston from the first-place Detroit Red Wings in the Atlantic Division. But the Bruins did themselves no favors by losing four in a row, making it harder coming out of the break.

“It’s disappointing to lose four in a row at home. It is disappointing,” Nikita Zadorov said. “It’s not what we want to show our fans. We’ve got three days break and we’ve got to get it together. We’re still there. These are tight standings in the East. We’ve got to go to Buffalo and then we have the west Canada trip. We’ve got to come up with some points if we want to be a playoff team.”

The Bruins embark on a five-game road trip that begins Saturday in Buffalo and ends on Jan. 6 against the Seattle Kraken. The Sabres have won seven straight going into Saturday’s game against Boston.

It will be important for the Bruins to start on time and play a full 60 minutes — something they were unable to do against Montreal.

“The break comes at a good time for us to regroup and recharge a little bit,” coach Marco Sturm said. “And coming out of the break might be good to start on the road and find our game again.”