Thirty-nine games into the 2014-15 season, the Boston Bruins have more questions than answers.

The narrative of one step forward and two steps back continued on Saturday afternoon against a below average Ottawa Senators squad – a team beneath the Black and Gold in the Eastern Conference standings.

After Bobby Ryan scored the game-winner just 44 seconds into overtime in the Sens’ 3-2 win over the Black and Gold, head coach Claude Julien decided to answer his first question about the Bruins effort in his postgame press conference that will leave many puzzled.

“I thought overall our effort tonight was good. It was good enough to win the game,” said the eighth year Bruins bench boss. “Everybody knows that we’re not winning those and it’s frustrating.”

Some parts of Julien’s remarks were true. The penalty kill did its job when they killed two crucial 5-on-3 situations twice, including one in the third period with Patrice Bergeron and a returning Adam McQuaid in the box.

After those 5-on-3’s, however, the lapses in judgement came back to haunt the Bruins again as the Sens scored shortly after in both situations. First came Kyle Turris stuffing a shot on the short side post of Tuukka Rask – a goal that the reigning Vezina Trophy winner would like to have back during the second period. Then, shortly after they killed the two-man advantage in the third period, Mike Hoffman deflected Eric Gryba’s shot past Rask short side to tie the game at 2-2 with 4:15 left in regulation.

Those lapses in judgement after killing two, two-man advantages are a prime reason why Julien’s remarks on the team’s effort being good enough to win is questioned.

“I know we can nitpick and every little detail of our game, but you know we’ve played the last two games well enough to win. They’re not perfect, but there good enough to win and I think that’s where I’m going to be careful with how I talk about this thing with you guys and with the team,” Julien added during his press conference in the Will McDonagh press room.

“We’re working hard we still have some areas we got to get better at we still forced some plays that ends up giving us some issues, but you know overall I thought the effort was good.”

Until they get wins, the Bruins are resorted to analyzing their effort – good or not – on a nightly basis. That is a far cry from the success that The Hub of Hockey has seen over the last five years.

“Yeah the effort is there. You know we did a lot of good things, but that being said I mean it’s one of those things where we’re at the point in the season where we need the result and the extra gear or the extra urgency to get the extra point,” said Patrice Bergeron. “I mean tonight is again another big point that you let slip by. I mean you’re right, we’re definitely not playing some better hockey, but with that being said we’ve got to bear down and find ways to – you know especially when you have a lead like that, you’ve got to keep it.”