Even with a good effort, the Boston Bruins still can’t find a way to defeat the Montreal Canadiens.

Even with a good effort from a shorthanded roster, the Canadiens continue to be a thorn on the Bruins’ side.

Even without the likes of David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara and Chris Kelly (just to name a few), the Bruins didn’t play all too badly against their archrivals.

Yet, as solid as they played, they needed to be perfect against the Eastern Conference leading Habs. That, in and of itself with a full roster, is almost impossible.

“You almost need a perfect game, and you need a bounce here or there,” head coach Claude Julien said following the Bruins’ 2-0 loss on Saturday night.

“But again, I credit my players for going out there and competing hard and well and giving ourselves a chance.”

Looking at the statistics from the third meeting of the 2014-15 regular season between the Bruins and Habs on Saturday night, the Black and Gold outshot their rivals, 33-23, while also leading in hits (31-21) and allowing fewer turnovers.

Even then, it wasn’t enough. The Bruins didn’t generate much pressure on Carey Price in front of the net, while the Habs got behind the B’s D often and made Tuukka Rask work hard for every save.

Related: Rask’s struggles vs. Canadiens continue

Some of the Bruins’ lack of offense during this stretch is due to all the injuries and the callups, for sure. But in sticking with the message, none of the Black and Gold are making any excuses about it.

“Yeah, I mean it’s not easy because you want to develop that chemistry with your linemates, but at the end of the day we’re all here for a reason,” said Matt Fraser, who skated along with Alex Khoklachev and Matt Lindblad Saturday night. “The Bruins think that we can bring something to the table, and no matter who pulls that jersey on, on any given night we expect to win and we expect to play hard.”

Even with a good effort, there’s hardly any style points given to any team who comes up on the wrong end of the scoreboard. The effort was there in most areas for the Bruins Saturday night, but the execution was not.

The Black and Gold will get one more chance in the regular season to execute on their chances against their hated rivals when they meet again in March. At that point, the Bruins and the Habs should look a little different as the teams heal from their injuries, and of course with the trade deadline happening between now and then.

There’s no denying that the Canadiens are in the Bruins’ heads. At the same time, the Black and Gold are more concerned with keeping their head above water while Chara, Marchand, Krejci and Kelly try to heal from their injuries, and realistically, that’s all they can ask for.