Boston Bruins head home from poor road trip looking to rediscover scoring touch

TORONTO - The Boston Bruins can't wait to get back home.

After losing two of the first three games on their four-game road trip, Boston spotted Toronto a 3-0 lead in its final game before eventually falling 3-2, despite giving up just 13 shots to the Maple Leafs.

It was the first time the Bruins have lost to the Leafs in nine games, dating back to March 31, 2011.

Once again, it was the offence that failed Boston on the road. The Bruins scored only six goals over the four-game trip through Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto, and never more than two in any one game.

"Right now there are guys that are pressing and it's not easy for them," Julien said. "But we got to fight our way through it. That's what we got to do right now.

"Certainly, we're not going to be hanging our heads, but we'll continue to work and we'll eventually find our rhythm again."

Boston's top-six scorers — Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton — combined for just two goals and five points over the four games.

"They're all aware they haven't scored in a while," Seidenberg said. "There's nothing they'd like to do more than get a goal and get the monkey off their back. We just have to keep working hard and build on what we did in the third period."

It was the second-longest road trip of the season for the Bruins, who drop to 10-5-2 away from home. They had a five-game swing in February in which they went 4-1 and the offence poured in 17 goals.

Defensively, Boston has stayed steady. The team allowed only nine goals on the road trip and never more than three in any one game. The Bruins still remain the second-best defensive team in the league behind the Ottawa Senators, with an average of just 2.10 goals-against per game, tying them with the Chicago Blackhawks.

"Our back end was fine," Julien said. "I didn't find there were many issues on the back end. ... It was mostly on the offensive side. We got to be able to produce a little bit more than we did."

The Bruins now return to Boston for the back end of the home-and-home series against the Leafs. They play 11 of their final 18 games at home, where they own one of the league's best home records at 10-2-1.

"We just got to put this game behind us and regroup," Chara said. "We all know in this room that we're capable of playing much better, obviously with a lot more desperation.

"We need to be more desperate — more energy, more jump."