Skating Saturday afternoon without two of their top centers, the Bruins looked like a team trying to find its game at both ends of the rink.

The New York Rangers scored a goal in each period and Henrik Lundqvist steered aside 29 shots, including a penalty shot by Marco Sturm, to take a 3-1 win over Boston. 

After losing leading scorer Patrice Bergeron Monday and fellow skilled center Marc Savard Thursday, it was not surprising the Bruins were often lacking cohesiveness in the offense zone.

But the B’s also managed to depart from their normally sound defensive structure, a more troubling development as the team heads into a stretch in which hopes of surviving in the playoff mix may depend on a daily fix of solid defense.

The Bruins have now lost three of four games since the exuberant victory in the Winter Classic and the road ahead, with tough stops in Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles is going to provide a major test.

Aside from the loss of Bergeron (broken thumb) for another week or so, Savard (knee) will be out 3-4 weeks, defenseman Andrew Ference (groin) is gone for six weeks. Rugged blueliner Mark Stuart could be ready to play during the California trip after missing a month with a broken sternum, but the Bruins are still going to have to dig real deep.

“We just have to find a way, maybe go back to the way we played two years ago when we didn’t really have any skill and we just grinded games out,” said defenseman Dennis Wideman who scored the Bruins lone goal Saturday. “That’s something we are probably going to have to get back to if we want to win hockey games, games that are low scoring and we have to keep them out of the net.”

Aside from Wideman’s goal, the Bruins best showing was provided by Shawn Thornton, who showed plenty of courage, challenging Donald Brashear to a scrap two minutes into the game. Circling around Brashear, Thornton alternated between a right-handed and left handed fighting style before taking down Brashear with a right.

Here are three things to ponder as the Bruins fuel up Bear Force One for a trip to the California sun that may help thaw out the team’s frozen offense.

SURVIVING WITHOUT SAVARD

The Bruins began Saturday by announcing an MRI had shown that Savard has a partial MCL tear in his right knee that will take him out the lineup for 3-4 weeks.  The skilled center, who suffered the injury just 28 seconds into Thursday’s 5-2 loss to Chicago, will not require surgery.

“It’s unfortunate, anytime you lose a player it’s an unfortunate situation. Especially we know what Savvy can bring to our hockey club,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “But, again, that’s part of the game. You hear me repeating myself in that regard, but we’ll just make the best of it as far as having to grind it out a little bit more and getting those gritty wins.”

The timing of Savard’s injury, within days of the loss of Bergeron and Ference, was especially troubling. But if the team can tread water until Bergeron returns, all is not lost. The Bruins have already played fairly good hockey without Savard this season, going 7-4-4 while he was sidelined from a month with a broken foot.

In addition, even when he has been in the lineup, Savard has often been an inconsistent contributor to the team’s offense. He was held off the score sheet in 10 of the 20 games he played after recovering from the broken foot and he failed to register a point in 13 of the 27 full games he has skated in this season.

Are the Bruins better with the highly skilled player maker? Absolutely. Can they win with out him? For a month or so they might have to.  

DEFENSIVE BREAKDOWNS

You will not often see an opposition player have free reign to maneuver through the Bruins defensive zone, but Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto found himself in that position Saturday.

After a turnover in the Rangers end, New York center Brandon Dubinsky broke up ice. Skating at full speed Del Zotto gathered a drop pass from Dubinsky inside the Boston blue line He quickly waltzed around Chara and cut to the net untouched before sliding a backhand shot past Tim Thomas for a 1-0 Rangers lead just under eight minutes into the contest.

“Well, first and foremost, you ended up with two guys caught behind the offensive net,” said Julien. “Right there, it became a four on three, so that’s where the original problem started from there and then more mistakes happened after that.”

The Bruins did have a great chance to draw even. While killing a penalty late in the first, Steve Begin pushed the puck ahead for Sturm, sending him in on a partial breakaway before being hauled down by Ales Kotalik.

Sturm was awarded the Bruins first penalty shot of the season, but Lundqvist locked his legs pads together to thwart his wrist shot attempt.  

“I just missed it,” Sturm said. “I knew where I wanted to go. I just missed it, that’s all.”

Shortly after Thomas sprung across the crease to make a sharp save on a one-timer by Chris Drury,  the Rangers were able to take a 2-0 lead as Dubinsky fought his way into the crease and pushed in a rebound midway through the second.

Erik Christensen made it 3-0 just 37 seconds into the third, out racing Bruin defenders to a loose puck, whirling and lofting a shot over Thomas.  

OFFENSE FROM DEFENSE

Jumping full stride into the “life without centers” portion of their season, the Bruins were able to generate some sporadic offense pressure, but were generally out of sorts Saturday. Passes arrived a fraction late or passing options were not recognized.

The effort was there, the B’s went to the net and had several scoring chances in and around the slot, but pucks didn’t get through to Lundqvist.  

The Bruins may have to get a whole lot more creative in order to generate offense.  One order of business will be getting defenseman active in the offensive zone.

“We need to do more, me especially,” Wideman said. “I’m not even close to where I was last year. That’s something I want to try and get going as much as we can, especially with some of our top scorers out of the lineup, we’re expected to make a little more happen on the back end.”

Boston generated 11 shots in the first period, six of them from defenseman.  In the third, the B’s were able to direct 16 shots at Lundqvist, with Chara, Morris and Wideman each finishing the game with four shots to lead the Bruins.

“We’re moving around, we’re trying to find ways to create some offense here,” said Morris. “Obviously, look at our third period, we pressed a little harder there, we had lots of swings, shooting with a little force to generate some speed.... we’ll be alright.”