The Bruins are 23-4-2 and they sit atop the NHL standings with a rather mind-boggling .828 win percentage. No matter what statistical category or metric you want to look up, the Bruins are at or near the top of the league.

But if you’re the nervous type of Bruins fan, the team has given you just a little grist for your mill this week. Up until now, the Bruins have owned the third period, but in both of their last two games they lost third-period leads. They also had overtime power-play opportunities they did not capitalize on.

Boston wound up beating the Islanders in a shootout on Tuesday but did not fare so well Thursday, blowing a two-goal third-period lead and then losing in the shootout to the Kings.

Two games do not constitute a crisis. But the trend, short though it may be, is at least noteworthy.

In keeping with his forward-thinking, pedal-to-the-metal inclinations, Coach Jim Montgomery was more bothered by not extending the leads as opposed to protecting them.

“I don’t think we’re as crisp in all areas, not only defending but offensively, too,” said Montgomery on Friday. “Our transition game has not been there offensively and I think that gives us a lot of mojo and I think it carries over into the fact we’re not getting as many chances and then we’re defending a little more, which just adds to us not feeling great about ourselves. Then we end up in predicaments where you take penalties unnecessarily.”

For whatever reason, the giddy-up the Bruins have been playing with has been waning late in games recently.

“Not playing at the pace that we want to play at is what I believe is at the root of us not playing to my expectations,” said Montgomery.

For the players, when you’ve been on the type of roll they’ve been on all year, they aren’t ready to push the panic button. But the recent trend has not gone unnoticed.

“I wouldn’t say (there are) worries. You’re going to go through these times during a season as a team where your game just isn’t where you want it to be,” said Taylor Hall. “I think that’s a product of every team giving us their best. Teams are really forcing us to play well now. We’re having to really earn wins and when we do, there are still parts of our game that need to get better. We’re taking a lot of penalties. That’s part of our game that needs to improve. It doesn’t allow us to play with our depth, it doesn’t allow us to play with flow to our game. That’s a big one. I honestly think that that was a tough road trip with travel and everything thing. We travel home, then we have a game, then we have an off day just to recover from the whole ordeal. Now with a practice day, now that we’ve been home for a little bit, we’ll see some improvements”

On Saturday, the Bruins will try to avoid losing two in a row for first time this year. The Columbus Blue Jackets are in town. They are dead last in the Eastern Conference and have a minus-38 goal differential.

But if there’s a game the Jackets could get up for, it would be one against the league’s best team which has still yet to lose in regulation on home ice. The Kings, after all, came into the Garden after allowing six third-period goals to Buffalo on Tuesday and left with a victory.

Instilling a healthy respect for an opponent’s situation should be part of the pregame preparation before Saturday’s matinee.

“I don’t know if we did a good enough job (Thursday) before the game, but there’s a lot games where we’ve already said ‘Hey, human nature is this team lost and they’re going to come in and they’re going to be hungry,’ ” said Montgomery. “Because everybody has pride. If you’re in this league, you have a tremendous amount of pride. I don’t know a player – and it doesn’t matter how much he disliked the coach – has ever gone into a game wanting to lose. It’s not the way human beings are built.”

THE BRUINS HELD an optional practice at Warrior Ice Arena and those who did skate were breaking in their Winter Classic pants (black with gold stripe and spoked B logo in the right leg) and gloves (an old-timey brownish gold).

Goalie Linus Ullmark’s mask was an homage to Andy Moog, while his pads were a nod to Byron Dafoe. Jeremy Swayman went with a Fenway-themed mask with Ted Williams, David Ortiz and Curt Schilling on one side. Swayman also went with the old school brown waffle board pads.

Matt Grzelcyk played at Fenway in 2010 when he was at Belmont Hill but missed the Frozen Fenway game when he was at Boston University because he was injured. He was looking forward to playing in front of a full Fenway.

“This is a step up, for sure. I got a taste of it in 2019 (at Notre Dame) and those are the games you remember,” said Grzelcyk. “It’s the stuff that goes into it before that makes it kind of special. You get the family skate and you get to share that with them. That’s what they remember most. Obviously, the game’s super-important. It’s obviously back to business once the puck drops. But it’s a special event to take part in.”

For Hall, this will be his first outdoor game, as a player at least.

“I was really excited for something like this when I got traded here, knowing that the Bruins usually get to play in these special events, so this is awesome for me,” said Hall. “I went to the first one in Edmonton as a kid when they played Montreal in 2003. I was there, freezing my butt off. Now, 20 years later, it’s cool to be playing in one.

“I was so young, I remember thinking ‘Why is everyone drinking cold beer?’ But now as an adult I can see why you’d want to have anything that might make you feel a little bit warmer.”

The coaches often wear some sort of stylish hat, but Montgomery hasn’t decided what he’ll be wearing. Last year as an assistant with the Blues, he went with a simple knit winter hat when they played an outdoor game in Minnesota.

“I know I’ve got to wear something, because last year in Minnesota it was really cold and I could only last the national anthem,” said Montgomery.

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