At the midway point of the 2015-16 regular season, the Boston Bruins are on pace to have a similar season from a year ago — the first year they missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs under head coach Claude Julien. There’s still a lot of hockey to be played, but the comparisons are pretty striking.

Through 41 games of 15-16, the Bruins have 47 points and sit in the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. At this point last year, they had 46 points and held the East’s second wild card spot.

With all the turnover from last year’s roster, the Bruins are still in the hunt for a postseason spot. Things haven’t gone as planned for head coach Claude Julien and company over the last nine games, however, as the B’s are 2-6-1 in that span. Last night’s 2-1 loss to the Rangers — a game where the Bruins had a 1-0 lead entering the third period — proves that this team will still witness some growing pains as the season progresses. It’s how the B’s respond to the adversity facing them that matters this season. Otherwise, The Hub will witness a two-year playoff drought and enter another off-season of uncertainty.

The Bruins had chances to separate themselves from the pack of mediocrity in the East. They didn’t. And now, instead of battling for the top of the Atlantic Division standings, they are in a fight for their playoff lives, again.

Here’s a look at the wild card standings entering Tuesday’s schedule.

Here’s another screenshot of the division leaders ahead of Tuesday night.

Eleven teams are separated by eight points. If the Lightning get a victory in Calgary tonight, Tampa will jump into one of the two wild card spots. The Bruins, then, would be on the outside looking in.

How does that compare to last year? Here’s a look.

Division leaders from the midway point of 2014-15:

The difference so far is last year’s Bruins played their best hockey in January. Through five games in the first month of 2016, this year’s version of the Black and Gold, who are without David Krejci’s services (week to week with an upper body injury) are 1-3-1.

Between now and the trade deadline, Don Sweeney has his work cut out for him? Will he go out and try to acquire key assets? Will he find a way to re-sign Loui Eriksson? If not, will there be another taker for Eriksson as he finishes off the final few months of his contract? That remains to be seen.

The one thing we do know is, like last year, the Bruins have more questions that need to be answered through the midway point of the season. The next 41 will ultimately determine whether Julien, Eriksson, Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand and other core members of the Black and Gold are a part of the team’s future.