Who are the 2014-15 Boston Bruins?

Are they a team who is going through a bridge year? Are they a team that is capable of putting together some impressive wins like they did in January? Are they a team that is suffering from an identity crisis? Or are they a team that any potential Jeopardy! contestant would answer in a form of a question?

I’m sure Alex Trebek couldn’t even give out a good clue if they were the subject of a category.

Fifty-seven games in, and the Bruins are a very confusing bunch to figure out. A few weeks ago, they seemed to have righted the ship and created some good distance from the Florida Panthers for the final wild card spot. Now, they’re only ahead of the Panthers by three points. The Panthers do have a game in hand.

Wednesday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers – their third game of their five-game road trip – provided much of the same confusion for Bruins fans. The Black and Gold got off to a slow start in the first 30 minutes before storming back and outplaying the lowly Oilers in every aspect from the midpoint of the second period on.

The Bruins push may be a silver lining, but they still failed to come out victorious falling 4-3 after Martin Mancin scored the only shootout goal in the 12th round of the skills competition. Anything less than two points coming was considered unacceptable against an Oilers team tanking to get either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel with one of the first two picks in June’s Entry Draft.

Their were some promising signs for the Bruins, too. Reilly Smith reunited with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand and scored his first goal in seven games. The new look Bruins power play moved the puck well – with Bergeron, Loui Eriksson, David Krejci, Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug – and Eriksson pulled the B’s within a goal with 19 seconds left of the opening period. David Pastrnak provided a spark with Krejci and Milan Lucic and Tuukka Rask did his job on a day where Malcolm Subban was expected to start after getting called up from Providence.

But they also had their share of issues. The same defensive breakdowns were front and center early on when Nail Yakupov was left all alone in the slot. Then the one constant during this skid, the penalty kill, allowed two power play goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Teddy Purcell. The Oilers came in to Wednesday’s game ranked 28th on the man advantage.

Did the Bruins deserve a better fate? That’s certainly debatable. But for now, the puck simply isn’t bouncing the B’s way, even when they’re outplaying opponents.

“When you look at the outcome, it certainly doesn’t look that way,” Bruins coach Claude Julien told the press following the loss in Edmonton. “I think there’s a lot of frustration right now. I think the guys, everybody’s feeling the heat we feel that’s been put on us, and it’s up to us to work through this and find ways to overcome those kinds of things.”

Julien’s team is now losers of five straight and six of seven. In January, they went 8-1-2 in 11 games. Lately, they’ve been looking like a team struggling to gel during the month of December.

But the B’s problems go beyond Peter Chiarelli’s roster mismanagement this season. Even with the departures of Jarome Iginla, Shawn Thornton and Johnny Boychuk, the team still had high expectations entering the season. After all, their string of success since 2010-11 that includes two Eastern Conference titles, a President’s Trophy and a Stanley Cup suggested that the Black and Gold could weather the changes and at least solidify another playoff berth.

Simply put, the Black and Gold are not meeting expectations this season.

“We’re underachieving right now and our game’s got to get better,” Julien said to reporters. “I still feel we’ve got the group in there to make it better, so it’s up to us to take charge.”

There’s still time for the Bruins to right the ship again with 25 games left in the season. But they’ll need to do it quickly, and it will likely require Chiarelli trying to maneuver his way out of salary cap hell and acquiring some pieces for the home stretch.

On Boston.com: Buy or sell? Bruins in tough spot at Trade Deadline

For now, the Bruins have to find a way to set things straight and salvage the final two games of their road trip against a couple of Western Conference powerhouses – the St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks.

“All I’m worried about right now is next game, be ready for the next one,” Chara told the press after tallying an assist on Pastrnak’s tying goal in the second period. “We know it’s going to be a fight till the end. We are not a group that’s going to give up. We’re going to fight for every point, every game. We know that we can get it together, like we did before.”