The Bruins dropped a 4-1 decision to Calgary

When the Bruins came off a three-day Christmas break, they exploded out of the gate, winning five of their first six games.

Maybe their last vacation was too long.

Starting a seven-game homestand after a 10-day layoff, the B's performed well against the Calgary Flames in a well-deserved 4-1 loss at the Garden.

You could blame it on rust – and the B's looked like they needed some oil – but the flames were coming out with the same length of break. But for some reason, a Calgary team that came into the game at .500 and outside the Western Conference playoff structure took over most of the night. But the Bruins avoided this mud puddle of a game.

“I don't think we outplayed the opposition, I didn't think we were good. Our effort was poor,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “Of course, as a coaching staff, you look inside and look at our preparation. You always think your training as a coach is good, but it's clearly not enough. A lot of mental mistakes, a lot of physical mistakes and it's a lack of good training individually and collectively.”

When the going got rough, the B team still seemed to be in beach mode, until the result was a foregone conclusion. The B's actually had a 29-27 shot advantage, but that stat doesn't reflect post-whistle activity.

“They play hard,” said captain Brad Marchand, sporting the scars of a cross on his face and a stick to his mouth. “They got into it after the whistle and made a lot of runs. We certainly didn't back down enough to get to their level.”

The Flames were the more composed team in the first 40 minutes, and after the B's had their brief spurt ruined by a mental error early in the third period, they pulled away with two points.

It was clear early on that B was wrong in head or body. It was the Flames' first game since moving one of their big trade chips, Elias Lindholm, and one of the figures returning to Calgary was quickly heard.

After Brandon Carlo was called for holding just 3:48 into the game, newest Flame Andrei Kuzmenko got the visitors on the board at 4:20. Charlie Coyle was stopped by Jacob Markstrom with angina in the half, and the Flames quickly converted. From the right wing, Kuzmenko beat Jeremy Swayman to the glove to give Calgary a 1-0 lead.

In the first period, Calgary looked like a team far less affected by the All-Star break and bye week. They took away B's time and space on the rink, and on rare occasions, B wobbled the puck and missed easy passes.

Calgary took a 2-0 lead with a 3-of-2 rush at 13:01. Nazem Kadri drove the puck down the middle of the ice and fed it to Connor Zari on the left wing. Zari sidesteps Kevin Shattenkirk and comes behind him, then sneaks a backhander behind Swayman.

B has a chance to get back into the game. Marchand made a follow-up shot to Markstrom, hoping to free the puck, to no avail. After the whistle, Marchand took a couple of shoves from Flame in the area, and Martin Pospisil dropped a crossbody to Marchand's face from the top rope.

Marchand was given two minutes for the cut and, after a review, Pospisil was handed a five-minute foul and a foul. But after 4-on-4, B's three minutes of power play time did nothing.

Understandably, Montgomery put his top three lines in a blender. Although this method rarely works, this time it led to several long stays in the Boston area, and the groans turned to roars.

Towards the end of the period the B's tried to make some effort but promising plays died on the vine and the B's went into the second break down by two. They were lucky to still be within striking distance, at least in theory.

But Group B looked like a different team to start the third game. Charlie McAvoy hit the post early. The B's then had one power play, then 5-on-3 with 1:09 to go, Mackenzie Vigar got a double minor for a high stick on Brad Marchand. With a two-man advantage, Pavel Zacha got the B on the board when he scored on a deflected shot at 4:14.

With over three minutes of PP still left in Group B, Vigar were still in the box, but in keeping with the theme of the night, they had their share of undoing. The remaining 1:46 power play was canceled when the B's had too many men on the ice. Montgomery fell on his sword for it.

“Because of the late change, the power play setups got a little mixed up and I didn't communicate well to the players about who made the changes, so that's my fault,” Montgomery said.

On the ensuing 4-on-4, McAvoy coughed up the puck to Jonathan Huberdeau, and Huberdeau knocked it past Swayman to give the Flames a two-goal lead.

This destroyed any momentum B had built up.

Local boy Noah Hanifin blew out the garden lights after Coyle's slashing penalty. The Norwood native took the puck down the right sideline and slid a backhander through the pads of Swayman at 9:44 that was soft.

From there, it was all over except for the disappointment. McAvoy took a late roughing penalty and tied the game with 3:44 left. This allowed the B's best defender to erase this setback from the memory bank.

“The first game after the break, I'm not going to dwell on it too much, to be honest,” McEvoy said. “There's a lot we can work on, but we're nowhere near a finished product. There's always room for improvement and we will.”

They have to. On Thursday, Group B will host the league-leading Vancouver Canucks.