NEW YORK — For two periods, the Bruins were able to roll all four lines and establish a good forecheck in Monday’s contest with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. For three periods, however, some of the bounces didn’t go their way.

The Rangers, on the other hand, took advantage of their opportunities when they mattered most.

On one end, there was Brett Connolly hitting a post in the second period and Max Talbot getting absolutely robbed by Henrik Lundqvist with one of the best saves of the season in the third. On the other end, the Rangers, despite being outplayed for a good chunk of the first 40 minutes, dug deep and struck twice at the start and end of the last 20 minutes. Derrick Brassard’s 15th of the season 35 seconds in and Jesper Fast’s deflection at 18:18 of the final period gave the Broadway Blueshirts the 2-1 win over the Bruins, who have now lost seven of their last nine games.

“We had some opportunities here to score, and we missed those,” head coach Claude Julien said following the Bruins’ 41st game of the season. “Sometimes they go in for you; sometimes they don’t.

“I thought we played well in the first 40, and [we] did a great job getting on them. For the third period, we talked about going out there and doing the same thing. Obviously, it wasn’t as good as the first two. They seemed a little hungrier and found a way to win.”

Here are a few things we learned as the Bruins fell to 21-15-5 on the season.

Points coming at a premium

At times, the Bruins have found ways to win when their backs were against the wall. At other times, when they play well, they find themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

That’s the way sports goes sometimes, and with two crucial points up for grabs, the Bruins couldn’t finish the job at the “World’s Most Famous Arena.” Instead, they stay in the first wild card spot in the East, with a one point lead over the Lightning and Senators, both of whom have 46 points.

“That’s what happens sometimes,” said goaltender Tuukka Rask, who made 28 saves in the losing effort. “These are the kind of games that you have to go in to win and be a successful team, and we didn’t.”

Eleven teams are separated by eight points in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bruins had a few chances over the last nine games to create distance from that pack. They didn’t, and that may come back to haunt them when all is said and done.

Snakebitten Connolly returns after another healthy scratch

For the first time since October, Connolly was a healthy scratch for Saturday’s 2-1 loss in Ottawa. Two days later, he returned to the lineup and replaced Frank Vatrano — a healthy scratch for the first time since being called up from Providence back in early November — on the third line with Joonas Kemppainen and Jimmy Hayes, who scored the B’s lone goal at 9:04 of the second.

Connolly didn’t register an official shot on goal in 14:09 of ice time. But he played well enough on a third line that was physically engaged and energetic, giving the Black and Gold some quality scoring chances. The former Lightning winger added three hits and a blocked shot to end his evening. Perhaps that’s something Connolly can build on as the road trip continues Wednesday night in Philadelphia.

“I knew it was coming sooner rather than later,” Connolly said about being a healthy scratch. “Everybody has been kind of taking their turns to sit one, and it was my turn to kind of, you know, sit and watch and see things from a different angle. You know, I thought I played pretty well tonight. I had that chance, and if that goes in, we would’ve gotten another one, but you got to stick with it. I’m just looking to find that first one, and go from there.”

What matters most for Connolly, however, is producing and helping his team to victory. He had a chance to help that cause when he hit iron in the second period. Instead, the obstacle of trying to overcome a 17-game goalless drought continues.

The one thing to take from this? The last time Connolly watched from the press box in Arizona, the 23-year old responded by scoring four goals in his next five games. Perhaps the goals do indeed come in bunches for the Campbell River, British Columbia native.