The Bruins are still struggling, and they’re still losing. 

That’s why, in some crazy way, they didn’t seem so upset after losing their second game in a row Saturday at TD Garden. 

The reason they were more upbeat in the dressing room after Saturday’s game is simple: They were more upbeat on the ice. 

Rather than coming out sloppy in the first period and taking the second period off, as they did on Thursday, the Bruins came out and played an organized, structured game. The Penguins did a good job of limiting the Bruins’ chances to shots from the perimeter, so the quality scoring bids were rare. It was a loss to a good team, but an effort the team could live with. Over the Bruins’ 10-game slump (4-5-1), they haven’t been able to say that too often. 

“I thought it was definitely the right direction, where we’ve been I think the effort was definitely there,” Shawn Thornton, who was fired up after Thursday’s loss, said after Saturday’s game. “Maybe with a couple of bounces that game goes either way, I guess that was pretty much the gist of it right there.  I think everyone for the most part showed up to play tonight. I think we battled, I think we definitely were back to our gameplan fairly consistently.”

Right now, the Bruins’ issue remains offensive production. They entered Saturday’s game leading the league with 3.5 goals per game, but they have scored just once over their last two contests, and though they had 29 shots on goal Saturday, only nine of them came from forwards. While Saturday’s lack of chances was more because of the job the Penguins did keeping the B’s away from Marc-Andre Fleury, the fact that the members of David Krejci’s line had just one shot on goal (which came very late in the game) should come as alarming. 

Even so, the Bruins came out of Saturday’s loss more confident and less frustrated than they were after being blanked by the Hurricanes Thursday. They’re glad that they can return to action Sunday in Washington, as the Bruins feel a similar effort will bring them something they haven’t had a lot of recently: A victory.  

“I think number one, this loss stings. We played a lot harder yet we came up short and now we have a chance to go into Washington and want to redeem ourselves and win a hockey game,” Claude Julien said. “The last time we were in there we didn’t play very well either. So I’m happy that we’re playing tomorrow, I’m looking forward to it and hopefully we can continue to get better as a team, and then get better results.

CORVO TAKING CONFIDENCE WHERE HE CAN GET IT

Joe Corvo knows his stint with the Bruins hasn’t exactly been miraculous thus far, and he hasn’t been afraid to say it. 

The veteran defenseman, whom the Bruins acquired for a fourth-round pick the day Tomas Kaberle signed with the Hurricanes, isn’t having the season he’s used to having. Normally an offensive presence on the blue line with flaws in his own zone, Corvo has flashed very little of the former and far too much of the latter. Giveaways, not goals, have been the norm for much of Corvo’s first season in Boston, and he expressed frustration with the fact that he still hadn’t scored through the first couple months of the season.

Things were once again looking grim for him in the third period Saturday when he tried to clear a puck out of the crease after Dustin Jeffrey sent the puck in front. Instead of Corvo’s attempt leaving the zone, it went right into Matt Cooke in front, and the Bruins nemesis knocked the puck down and put it into the net for an easy goal to extend the Penguins’ lead to 2-0. 

While that goal proved to be the game-winner for the Penguins, Corvo was able to take something good out of the game. About five minutes after Cooke’s goal, Corvo took a pass from Patrice Bergeron and fired a wrist shot from the point past Marc-Andre Fleury for the Bruins’ only goal of the game. 

“Yeah, I’m taking it that way,” Corvo said when asked if he sees the goal in the loss as a confidence-booster. “Anything positive I’m going to take and run with it and try to carry it into the next game and make me feel good out there and play well. I will definitely try to carry that on.”

Saturday’s contest was just the second game this season in which Corvo has scored, as he potted his other two goals this season on Dec. 10 against Columbus. His three goals this season has him on pace for just five goals, which is far from what the free-agent-to-be was probably hoping for when he arrived in July. Corvo has scored 11 and 14 goals in his last two healthy seasons.

“I just don’t feel like I get involved enough offensively, which is something I kind of critique myself on in games, how offensively involved I get,” Corvo said following the game. “So when that’s not really working for me I tend to try and do more than I should. My gameplan going into tonight was to kind of relax and stay at the point and try and stay open that way and give myself some room to stay open and get some shots on net.”

When looking at the Bruins’ potential needs as the trade deadline approaches, you would have to think they could benefit from upgrading with a better puck-moving defenseman who isn’t as big of a liability in his own zone. If Corvo wants to prevent that from happening, scoring like he did in Carolina (14 goals in 2008-09) and limiting the mistakes would go a long way. 

“With Joe, it is all about confidence,” Julien said. “With Joe, sometimes he makes a mistake and carries that on for too long. He’s got to let go of those things and build on what he does well. He had some great opportunities tonight, the goal against he’s standing in front of the net and you hope that he had better battle on that. But, you know, he’s no different than everybody else that’s going through this. We have to improve ourselves as individuals if we want to be a better hockey club.”