BOSTON (CBS) – Pity the Boston Bruins.

They try too hard and have nothing to show for it.

And how can anyone disagree? The Bruins landed four shots on goal in the first period Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes. It only took them 16:55 to test goaltender Anton Khudobin for the first time.

In the third period they landed a shot on Khudobin 1:31 into the period and then finished the period with two shots. Their streak of getting just one point in a game was on the cusp of hitting three games and they might’ve even broken a sweat against the lottery-bound Hurricanes. For their efforts, the Bruins lost 2-1 in a shootout and for a third straight game had to leave that extra point on the table.

They try so hard, they care so much, and they just can’t catch a break.

“You see guys out of character trying to do too much,” Bruins coach Claude Julien told the reporters in Raleigh. “And it’s like those are signs of not being focused and doing the right thing. You know it’s OK to want to help your team. But the best way you can help your team is by doing your job and doing it well. And we’ve got to get everybody on the same page here.”

If the Bruins’ performance on Sunday was a result of trying to do too much, I’d hate to see what would result if they didn’t try.

Literal interpretations of quotes aside, I know what Julien’s getting at. Defenseman Zdeno Chara went in on the forecheck during a penalty kill. He landed a big hit, but the Hurricanes had a 3-on-2. Some Bruins forwards were guilty of shooting when they should’ve passed and passing when they should’ve shot. Everyone held the puck too long at one point or another and wound up getting planted in the ice by a hit rather than making a play.

However, through 65 minutes the Bruins had seven forwards fail to land a shot on goal. Three of those forwards – Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Craig Cunningham – didn’t even attempt a shot. Loui Eriksson did them all one better, as he missed the net with his one shot attempt. The only way these things happen from too much effort is if that effort is going toward giving the Hurricanes two points.

There was no other way to describe the Bruins’ lackadaisical start than embarrassing. Goaltender Tuukka Rask, who was as detached from blame Sunday as Tom Hanks’ character in “Castaway,” actually used that word and then expressed disbelief.

“I have never seen anything like that. Seventeen minutes without a shot on net,” Rask told reporters.

Rask might now believe lightning strikes twice, because in the third period the Bruins bettered their 16:55 without a shot on net from the first by going 17:31 without a shot on net.

The lowlights of the Bruins’ performance weren’t limited to the measly number of shots they fired toward the Carolina goal. For most of the game the Bruins lost every battle down low. The Hurricanes, who are every bit as offensively challenged as the Bruins, were able to protect the puck when they possessed it and peel it off the Bruins’ sticks when they didn’t have it. On every breakout the Bruins looked more like they were dodging traffic on the Southeast Expressway, and more often than not they hit a traffic cone, the median or a pothole. No one was immune to the ineptitude.

There are two perspectives from which to look at the wreckage of this Bruins season.

If you’re with the coach on the notion that guys are trying to do too much, you have to be disturbed that a veteran group of players doesn’t know any better. Through great and rough times the several past seasons, the Bruins have prided themselves on poise and trust in the system. More than half the skaters in the lineup won the Stanley Cup four years ago. And all of a sudden they’re playing like a bunch of rookies that don’t know what it takes to win in the NHL? Not likely. But if that’s where the coach and some of his players are coming from, then fine.

However, you’d think that all this extra caring and desire to make things happen would turn into something that could be counted on the score sheet. Or at least it would create a moment to point to as a catalyst for a potential season turnaround. No, Gregory Campbell again offering himself up as a punching bag doesn’t count. I mean a big hit by someone not known for hitting, or a big goal from someone not known for scoring, a rousing speech uttered by someone known for being quiet. A speech so loud the Bruins wouldn’t be able to keep it from going public.

The other perspective is that they’re not doing enough.

If ever there was a game to come out of the dressing room like a train with broken brakes and plow through the opposition, it was Sunday’s. The Hurricanes have been giving their games an honest effort, but it’s apparent the mandate from management is to lose enough to land Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel at the June draft. The Bruins, who began the season with Stanley Cup aspirations, should have been desperate for two points. Instead they sleepwalked through more than half the game. That’s not doing too much. That’s indifference. Maybe the Bruins don’t believe the standings that show them in 10th in the Eastern Conference with more games played than most of their competition. Perhaps they believe what happened five years ago entitles them to an automatic berth in the tournament.

Yes, you can pity the Bruins because they try too hard and don’t get the desired results. You can have sympathy for them because they care so much it keeps from beating a Hurricanes team that would probably struggle in the AHL.

Or you can trust your eyes and your mind and just be baffled because what looks like a lack of effort and caring to outside observers is being sold by the perpetrators as an overabundance of those things. After all, the coach and his players are the experts and they should know which translation is right.

Just hope that whatever the correct analysis is, someone is finally held accountable for the failures in time to salvage this season.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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