Whatever ails the Bruins, they have their lightest workload of the season in which to figure it out, tinker with the parts, ideally get back to being a force in the Eastern Conference.
The Kings will be at TD Banknorth Garden Thursday, the hard-charging Devils in for a matinee Sunday, and then the Bruins don't play again until the following Saturday in Toronto. Look for coach Claude Julien to give his squad at least a 48-hour respite somewhere.
For all their stumbling over the last 5-6 weeks, which has them 6-10-3 in their last 19 games, the Bruins still hold the top spot in the East. However, there is one asterisk: The Devils are only 6 points in arrears, but they have three games in hand (including tonight in Newark, where Martin Brodeur will attempt to become the game's winningest netminder).
Meanwhile, the Capitals, only 7 points off Boston's tail, lost in Atlanta last night, wasting a prime chance to put more heat on the Black and Gold.
"We know, five-on-five, we are hard to play against," said Boston captain Zdeno Chara in the moments following Sunday's 6-4 loss in Pittsburgh. "But if we do things we are not supposed to do, it's tough."
No. 1 on the no-no list in Pittsburgh was the string of minor penalties, eight in all, the Bruins took against the highly skilled Penguins. Over the course of 60 minutes, the Penguins spent 12:21 on eight power plays. It could have been longer, but the time was trimmed by the fact that they scored twice on the advantage.
"They love games with lots of power-play opportunities," noted Chara. "They like to hang on to the puck, set up plays, and they make you tired from chasing the puck. That's their game."
The Bruins, working the power play for 5:23, connected only once (Michael Ryder) on five power plays, and mitigated some of Pittsburgh's lopsided advantage with a Blake Wheeler shorthanded strike (the rookie's first tally since Feb. 17) that provided a 3-2 lead midway through the second period.
Overall, the Penguins outplayed the Bruins to a much greater degree than the score indicated. The Bruins had trouble generating play out of their own end and therefore didn't get many good scoring chances on Mathieu Garon in the Pittsburgh net. Garon, in fact, often looked shaky and didn't turn in a big stop all afternoon.
Had the Bruins cobbled together any kind of an attack - a difficult task, given the march of Black-and-Gold sweaters to the penalty box - they likely could have scored enough at least to force overtime
"That [lack of] discipline," noted Julien, "took a bit of the momentum away."
If there was a bright light to the day, it was that Ryder and Wheeler finally found the back of the net.
Wheeler, 25 days without scoring, had gone the Full Thornton (0-0 -0 over seven games).
Ryder, hired on at $4 million a year, notched only 1-1 -2 over the previous eight games. He has only seven goals since Jan. 10, hindered in part by a fractured frontal sinus that kept him out of seven games while he healed following surgery in February.
To get back in gear, the Bruins will need a lot more out of those two, along with David Krejci, who was a paltry 4-6 -10 in the 23 games before Sunday. Krejci picked up an assist on Wheeler's shorty, only his third point in nine games.
Wideman struggled through his shift, and was able to get back on the ice again, but those kind of injuries sometimes become more of a concern the day following impact. He finished a minus-3 for the afternoon, his worst rating of the season.
Julien might be looking to shake up his defensive pairings again prior to the Kings' visit Thursday, one of only two games the Bruins will play between now and March 28. Wideman played with Chara (who was also minus-3), Andrew Ference and Steve Montador teamed on the No. 2 pairing, and Aaron Ward and Mark Stuart were the third duo.
Options for Julien to consider on the blue line: the reinsertion of veteran Shane Hnidy and/or rookie Matt Hunwick. The latter has more ability to move the puck and jump into plays in the offensive end, which could make him a better alternative with the Bruins struggling at times on the transition game.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com. 
