Bruins playing well in spurts, but still need to see results

B’s look to snap 4-game skid against Dallas

BOSTON — At the moment, the Bruins are safely ensconced in a playoff spot, just one point off the Eastern Conference lead and 13 points separating themselves from the second wild-card holder, the Detroit Red Wings.

So, yes, they have some runway to get themselves right again.

But make no mistake, after losing four straight at home (they got the loser point in two of those), the team is fighting against a dangerous riptide that could dramatically change the course of their promising season.

On Monday, they’ll face the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars before heading out on a difficult western swing that opens Wednesday in Edmonton against arguably the best team in hockey the last couple of months. Then they play in Calgary against a team that made the Bruins look very bad last week.

On Saturday, the B’s travel to Vancouver to play the Nhl-leading Canucks, who no doubt will be looking to atone for their no-show performance at the Garden, the only win the Bruins have managed on this sevengame home stand.

They finish in Seattle a week from Monday against a Kraken team that stole a win at the Garden, thanks to goalie Joey Daccord.

After cruising through the regular season last year, Boston was hoping for some adversity to test their mettle. Well, they’ve got it on their plate now, piled high and deep.

Whether you play well or play poorly in a loss, it’s still a loss, and losing can snowball.

“I don’t think I’m as worried as maybe the outside people are because I see a good brand of hockey,” said coach Jim Montgomery after Sunday’s practice in Brighton. “Do I see people making mistakes, yes. Other teams are making mistakes. We’re not closing out games, whether that’s special teams, whether that’s 5-on-5, whether it’s our forecheck, whether it’s our D-zone coverage, odd-man rushes, taking penalties.

“Those are all things that during the course of the year, you’re going to have moments like this. And I agree with you. This could snowball. We’ve got Dallas coming in, one of the elite teams in the league. Then we’re going to Edmonton, the best record in the league since Dec. 1. And we’re on the road for fourin-six nights. Yeah, it can. But if you get caught up in that, you start worrying. That’s why we try and immerse ourselves in the moment and we just focus on (Monday).”

At the end of Sunday’s practice, Montgomery huddled his extended leadership group – Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Charlie Mcavoy, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo – for a chat. The coach kept the contents of that particular conversation between those players and himself. But in general, he said his message to his players was about not losing sight of some of the good things that are happening. There’s also some wagon-circling going on.

“I talk to them about what I like and what we’d like to be better at. And also to stick together,” said Montgomery. “And that’s why I talk to them about the outside noise. The sky’s not falling. It’s not. And we believe in the process that, if we get five percent better, we win our last three games. The Calgary game, the Washington game? That bothers me to the core. But when I see my team building and I see the group building the right way, it gives me confidence, so it’s easy for me to be confident around the team.”