Brad Marchand

Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand eyes a loose puck during the third period of the Dallas Stars 5-3 win over the Boston Bruins in an NHL hockey game in Boston Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

(Winslow Townson)

BOSTON - On Sunday night, the Bruins failed to give Tuukka Rask enough support against Montreal.

On Tuesday night, they failed Niklas Svedberg against Dallas.

In his first game back in net for the Bruins since Jan. 8 after a conditioning stint in Providence, Svedberg didn't play his best. But it didn't help that his teammates played their worst.

Tuesday's effort, or lack thereof, underscored the Bruins downtrend of the last few games. After a dominant stretch in January where they posted an 8-3-1 mark and Rask started all but one of those games, the Bruins needed a win and a day of rest for the starting goaltender.

They got neither.

Svedberg surrendered three goals on 10 shots in the first period in Boston's second straight loss and third in its last four games. Svedberg was pulled after one period and Rask played the final 40 minutes.

While Rask has played to his potential over the last month, the last thing head coach Claude Julien wanted was a demoralizing loss for Svedberg in a game that should have been competitive.

"I think first of all this guy comes back and plays his first game and we didn't give him much support at all," Julien said. "I felt bad for him. He could have used a lot more support to get his confidence back and I think some of the goals coming in from the side, obviously you'd like to have those. Our guys aren't there to clear the rebounds and score another goal."

Unsurprisingly Svedberg, who's appeared in just 13 games this season for the Bruins, was disappointed with himself but didn't pass the blame.

"What matters is I played like (crap) and we lost the game so I think I should take the blame for this loss," Svedberg said. "I think I played a poor game. Obviously Tuukka's played a lot of games lately so he needed a night off and this was a time when I needed to step up despite not playing much lately, up here at least. This was an important game for our team and for me to step up and I failed."

Making matters worse, Julien confused his goalies at the start of the second. Svedberg went onto the ice then retreated as Rask came out.

"Certainly I didn't want to embarrass Sveddy," Julien said. "He doesn't deserve it, and it would have been nice to give him a little more support in his first game back."

The overall miscommunication seems to be a trend with the Bruins. Open looks in the defensive zone, bad passes and ugly turnovers were abundant on Tuesday, especially in the first period with Svedberg trying to get back into game action. David Krejci created a bad turnover on the first Dallas score and Dougie Hamilton did little to deny Jamie Benn on the Stars' second score.

"I can give game plans and I can do a lot of things," Julien said. "But I can't play for them. It's got to come from within."

Boston's loss coupled with a win from Florida trimmed the Bruins' lead over the Panthers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference to four points. The Bruins have two games in hand over the Panthers with 28 to go.

The ensuing road trip will be yet another big test for Boston.

"I don't think we have enough guys playing to their abilities to win hockey games," Julien said. "We don't have enough guys going and we have a lot of guys who are very average for what's expected of them."

Instead of a scheduled off day on Wednesday before their two-week road trip, the Bruins now have practice. By the looks of their performance over the last four games, they need as much practice as they can get.

Follow MassLive.com sports reporter @jcmccaffrey on Twitter. She can be reached by email at jmccaffr@masslive.com.