The Bruins followed up an impressive come-from-behind victory in Pittsburgh by returning to the Garden in style, but unfortunately it was the same style fans have grown accustomed to in Boston over the last year. The B's struggled to get going throughout the night and dropped a 3-1 decision to the Canadiens.  

The game appeared to be a showdown of young goaltenders, as Tuukka Rask and Carey Price had their teams entering the third period knotted up in a 1-1 tie, but strikes from Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez sealed the deal for the Habs.

"We created a bunch of scoring chances," Milan Lucic said following the game. "I don’t know what’s going on. We are finding ways to score on the road, we’re doing the right things on the road, and pucks are going in. For some reason, at home it’s not going in for us." 

The Bruins are in the midst of a stretch that features three games in four nights, as they'll be back at the Garden on Saturday night to face the Senators. 

Here is the Hat Trick of storylines to emerge from the B's loss: 

HOMEWARD FROWNED

The loss on Thursday night dropped the Bruins' home record to 2-3-1, with their record at the Garden falling to 2-2-1 (their loss in the season-opener was technically a home game in Prague). Blake Wheeler used the word "unacceptable" to describe the team's play at home this season. That might be an understatement. 

The Bruins have faced stiff competition at home, but they've also fallen to a lesser team. They lost in regulation to the  Rangers, who were 2-2-1 as they entered the Garden. Throw in some first-place teams in the Capitals  (win) Blues (overtime loss) and the Habs (loss), and it's clear that the Bruins have generally had to deal good teams. Better, in fact, than the opponents the B's have faced on the road. 

Even so, it's called a home-ice advantage for a reason, but the Bruins haven't exactly experienced it on a consistent basis. The Bruins have been a dominant road team (6-1-0), but the struggles at the Garden experienced a year ago (17-17-6, with their 18th home win coming at Fenway Park) seem to once again be there this season. 

"I don't think we should play any differently home or away," Wheeler said. "I think we're guilty of that, but home's where we've got to play out best. We've got to make this building a tough place to come into."

TOUGH LUCK TUUKKA

… Though he would never say it. Rask's cool-as-a-cucumber mentality has been able to withstand the rough luck he's had this season, but some part of the 23-year-old has to be aware that he's played better than his 0-4-1 record this season. 

 "I just try not to get frustrated, obviously," Rask said after the game. "I try to play good every time I play and give the team a chance to win. It's just funny here how things go sometimes, like when you get these losses like this, but it's hockey. Good things will happen when you work hard." 

Yet Rask has worked hard, and though he gave up three goals against the Habs, he once again played better than the scoreboard would indicate. One goal in particular, a Scott Gomez tally at 10:30 of the third period, was especially flukey. Rask swiped at the puck his with glove but it seemingly bounced off his backside and in. Take away the flukes and the factor in that the B's entered the game scoring 3.3 goals per game, and it's quite clear that Rask, at least on some level, has been a victim early on. Rask can see that he's had some bad luck, but he feels the flukes can be avoided, and that there's more he can do. 

"You can say that [I'm not getting the bounces], but then somehow you've got to be prepared for those bounces, too, but I feel like I'm always in position," Rask said. "I can't cover for the bounce at all and I don't know if I've got to change something or if it's just bad luck, but definitely the bounces are not going my way, but it's just hockey."

"It's a team game, and you've got to lose some games, so I don't care if he wins every game and I just take the losses, as long as the team is winning and we have a winning record. For a goalie, it's tough to keep that confidence high when you're losing, but you've just got to analyze every game and every save you make and see if you did something wrong, or if you just played a good game and let in a couple of goals. That's the only thing you can do."

The season began with an average outing from Rask, who allowed four goals in front of a team remarkably prone to turnovers. In his three starts since, he's allowed three, one and three goals, with last Saturday's shootout loss the only Rask game in which the B's mustered a point. He's yet to start a road game (the opener counted as a home game), but the Garden and Rask have been a bad combination this season, regardless of how he's played.

"I don't know if it's at home, but I think it's just overall," Julien said of Rask's misfortune this season. "It's unfortunate, because so far I don't think we've played great in front of him. That first game in Prague I think was out worst game ever so far this year. Tonight we weren't a very good team in front of him. I thought he played well against St. Louis and took us into a shootout. I don't know that I would go after him and say that he's not playing well. I think we need to help him out a little bit. When goalies find their groove, it's because the team in front of him plays maybe better than he have."

TIRING THIS EARLY AN ISSUE

Shawn Thornton was pretty direct when asked whether having games on back-to-back days was a reason for why the Bruins were unable to really get something going on Thursday night. 

"No. That's an excuse," Thornton said. "I don't believe in those."

Yet the Bruins clearly weren't going at the same speed they were a night before when they put six goals past Brent Johnson in Pittsburgh. They came out flying, but as the first 20 minutes wore on and the second period had rolled about, it was what Wheeler called "more of the same." The Bruins couldn't regain the speed flashed a night before, and it ended up costing them. 

"We just ran out of legs," Julien admitted after the game. "We just didn't have the eves and progressively our game got worse. We looked more and more tired and got a fresh team waiting for [us] here at home in a divisional game. … When you don't have your legs, the rest of your game kind of falls apart as well. A big part of your game looked bad. That's what it is."

Julien also said that he also felt the team's "mind" may have been tired. Sure, there's the back-to-back game days and the travel, but the Bruins are just 13 games into their schedule. They will have games on consecutive nights eight more times this season, so the Bruins will have to get used to the increased workload that accompanies the busier stretches of their schedule.