Neely thinks scoring punch will return soon

“It’s no secret that we’re having a tough go,’’ said Neely, a Bruins vice president. “We’re obviously having trouble scoring. We control the play a little bit, but then when we don’t score, we fall behind. Then we see that the confidence is not there to say, ‘OK, we can overcome this.’ ’’

For Neely, the personification of all things Black and Gold, the tumble has been especially painful. The front office assembled a roster modeled on the Hall of Famer, whose No. 8 hangs from the TD Garden ceiling.

Tough. Feared. Skilled. Hard to play against. No-quit character.

For most of this very indifferent season, the Bruins have been none of those things.

“We have to get back to our identity as a team,’’ said Neely. “It’s something that’s been talked about for a few years - the identity of the Boston Bruins. I think that’s been kind of missing. Maybe we’re thinking too much about what we’re not doing instead of thinking about what we have to do.’’

Yesterday, after their fourth straight practice day, the Bruins traveled to Buffalo for tonight’s game at HSBC Arena. It is a game that does not favor the Bruins, losers of four straight and winners of only one of their last nine outings. The Sabres, backstopped by the league’s best goalie in Ryan Miller (28-11-5, 2.06 goals-against average, .934 save percentage), are 15 points ahead of the Bruins in the Northeast Division.