Teams struggle for odd reasons, and often times they can't put their finger on what ails them. Unfortunately for the Bruins after their 3-0 loss to the Ducks on Monday (recap), the diagnosis is quite simple: They lack emotion. 

And it's really, really obvious. 

Claude Julien knew it to be the case after the defeat, and rather than delivering stock answers to the media following the loss, he shot from the hip, frustrated that he once again is dealing with a roster full of talent that shows little else.

"We had all the reason in the world to want to compete tonight -- an opportunity to move up five spots," Julien said. "We didn't have enough guys going tonight, and there's no doubt there."

The coach named Milan Lucic as "by far" the team's best forward on the night, but added that "we needed more than Looch going." In the third period, he pulled Nathan Horton off the top line and put him on the third line with Michael Ryder and Marc Savard, while Blake Wheeler, one of the Bruins' few bright spots of late, jumped to the top line with Lucic and David Krejci. Tyler Seguin skated with Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi. 

Players throughout the locker room knew the team was "stale" (Horton's words), and even after the offense came out of its shell a bit following the shuffling of the lines, the name of the game by night's end remained the lack of intensity.

"This game is about emotion," Julien said. "That's the thing that probably irked me the most tonight. We should have been emotionally involved. We should have been excited about playing this game tonight. We should have been excited."

But the Bruins, for whatever reason, were not. The fans were excited, Rene Rancourt ornaments in hand, but once the puck was dropped, the crowd got increasingly quiet until only boos -- of which there were plenty -- could raise the decibel level.

"Fans expect a lot from us, and when we don't come out and play well, they let us know," Ryder, who braved the media storm by taking questions for upwards of 10 minutes, said of the unsatisfied crowd. 

The Bruins have one game remaining before Christmas and the following road trip. Before the B's embark on a five-game trip, they have one shot at proving to the people who have packed the Garden that they're not wasting their time. 

"I think it's huge for us to come out and show the fans that we can win at home and can still play," Ryder said.

Here is the Hat Trick:

THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

Ryder fielded question after question about why the team is struggling, what they can do to fix it, etc. He answered each one as best he could, noting that some of the problems would be solved if he had all the answers. Still, it was the following question that made him pause for a few moments:

"Do you think the fans are disappointed because they see, like you guys do, a lot of talent in this dressing room, and for whatever reason, it's not producing?" 

After thinking for two and a half seconds -- which at the time felt like an eternity -- Ryder saw the point of the angry fans.

"Definitely," Ryder said. "We have a lot of talent in here. We have a lot of depth on this team, and I think that's one of our strong points, and I think we've got to find ways to use each other and find ways to produce. … We can't take nights off. When we do that, that's when we get in trouble."

He sees -- and many others have to as well -- that this team is taking nights off, and they do it in bunches. Nathan Horton was damned in Florida for taking games off and taking nights off, but this is different. It isn't limited to one person. You can see that when a guy who certainly didn't play his best game -- Lucic -- is the only one to earn the praise of the coach.

So what is it? Why can't these guys get up for the games?

It's Boston. They'll blame the coach. They'll blame Wheeler. Maybe they'll throw Ryder (who led the B's with seven shots) in there for good measure. Lord knows that once the local puckheads find a guy they don't like, it's all their fault -- not the guys who aren't producing. Nevermind that Horton -- the prize of the offseason who is beginning to look like a bad influence on Lucic with his lack of physicality -- was correctly demoted to a third-line winger when his team needed offense most. Forget that Dennis Seidenberg tied his season-low with a minus-3. 

The blame for what happened Monday isn't something one can simply dump on the usual suspects. It's a mindset that needs to be installed throughout the entire room. 

"Everybody has to realize that they need to get up for these games. It should be an honor and everybody should play with a lot of pride and passion," Zdeno Chara said. "I don’t know. We all have to prepare for the game and play hard. It’s just one of those things that you have to find a way to get ready for these games."

Added Savard: "We’ve all got to look in the mirrors here. We’ve got one more before Christmas and we need it big time."

SHOTS AREN'T AS TELLING A STAT AS, WELL, SHOTS THAT GO IN

The Bruins, despite how lethargic they were, managed to get a season-high 45 shots on Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller, who shut out the B's and was really only tested a few times, making his bigger saves against the likes of Tyler Seguin and Mark Recchi down the stretch. 

Monday was the third time this season the Bruins have finished with at least 40 shots on goal. In those games, they are 1-3-1, with the lone win coming against the Panthers. All of the pucks put on Hiller didn't do the B's any good on Monday.

"[The shots were] not good enough for us, anyway. I can tell you that," Julien said. "We want some better quality scoring chances and obviously some better finish. We had a couple of chances in close there late in the third, but still, you need to bury those chances and you need be harder on the puck. Those little things, those little details that we’re talking about, make a big difference in the game."

KAMPFER IS OK

The Bruins had a scary moment when one of their defenseman took a shove and went head-first into the boards ... again. Unlike the case of Adam McQuaid on the dirty two-hand push from Jody Shelley, blueliner Steven Kampfer didn't get it quite as badly. Ducks forward Teemu Selanne didn't seem to push Kampfer with ill intent, and was appropriately given just a boarding minor. 

After being helped off the ice by trainer Don Delnegro, Kampfer returned to the game later in the period. 

"It was one of those things where I just wanted to keep moving," the 22-year-old said. "I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to have anything stiffen up, so it was more my call of wanting to go back on. The trainer said, ‘If you feel fine, go back out there,’ so I just wanted to make sure that I could move everything, which was fine, so I just hopped back on the ice and started going."

After the play, much like Shelley did with McQuaid, Selanne apologized to Kampfer. This time, it seemed to be an apology worth accepting.

"He’s a classy player," Kampfer said of Selanne. "He said it looked dirty, but in all respect, it was a good play by him. I just let up going into the hit and that’s my fault, so it’s something I can’t do from now on."

Julien said after the game that Kampfer was "OK" upon returning to the lineup.

"We’ll put it at that," the coach said. "Not perfect, but OK."