Consider last night's 3-2 overtime loss before 17,565 at TD Banknorth Garden - many of whom turned into boo birds by the end - an implosion.
"Earlier in the season, we just knew we were going to win when we were in that kind of situation," said Tim Thomas, who made 35 saves. "I think now, we still believe we're going to win. But it's not 100 percent like it was earlier this year. It's not 100 percent confidence."
The loss underscored some ugly truths about the Bruins. They're playing scared. They're downright polite when they take leads. They think twice about turning in 60-minute efforts. And they're not committed to being as hungry and desperate as their opponents.
"A couple things have to happen," said coach Claude Julien, deep into his checklist of items in an attempt to revive his club. "Basically, all I have to say is that we're going to have to start outworking other teams from start to finish like we were earlier in the season. And your best players have to find their games and give it the best they can for us to get out of it."
With 10:10 remaining in regulation, Kings forward Michal Handzus, after gaining position in the crease, scored a power-play goal after Thomas stopped forward Teddy Purcell's initial shot.
Then with just more than 90 seconds to play, after goalie Jonathan Quick (24 saves) made a game-saving stop on Milan Lucic, defenseman Drew Doughty swept up the rebound and started the rush the other way against the wave-'em-in defense. Wayne Simmonds's first shot glanced off the right post, but Doughty, who had blown through the Boston perimeter, was on top of Thomas to slam in the rebound at 18:24.
LA's three-goal outburst ended with 34.2 seconds remaining in overtime, when captain Dustin Brown crashed the net and banged home a close-range shot, leaving the Bruins with a mere point when 2 looked like a sure thing.
"We know that things are not going that good for us right now," said Michael Ryder. "We've got to find a way to get out of it. We've got to make sure we get it back on track as soon as possible."
