Until they improve their record at TD Garden, the Bruins will continue to use repetitive buzzwords like “we want to be tough to play against in front of our home crowd” or “we want to give our fans something to cheer for.”

Don’t believe me? Well, the old cliches were thrown around again in the Bruins locker room following their third straight loss – that included ‘L’s’ to the Ducks, Maple Leafs and lowly Avalanche – on Causeway Street on Thursday night.

“Yeah, certainly that’s our goal and our fans deserve a more solid game and to have plenty to cheer for and leave here happy with a good win that the Bruins put on the ice, and that’s on us to get our game in order,” David Backes said on Thursday after the B’s blew a two-goal first period lead in their 4-3 loss to the Ducks.

Thursday’s loss put the Bruins back under .500 on Garden ice. They enter Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings with a home mark at 7-8-0. The Black and Gold will also be without David Pastrnak for the next two games – both at home – after the league’s second leading goal scorer underwent a procedure to remove an olecranon bursa from his right elbow.

Having Pastrnak and perhaps Frank Vatrano back with the club before the NHL’s holiday break would be a good stocking stuffer. Improving their home mark in a building that’s become less full and vibrant despite the ongoing sellout streak of 300-plus games at TD Garden is one of the top items on the Bruins’ Christmas wish list.

“Yeah, well it just goes without saying that you want to be tough to play against at home, and you want this to be a place that teams don’t look forward to coming in and playing,” said defenseman Adam McQuaid. “So yeah, I mean, we have great fans that deserve to come see a winning product. So, I guess it goes without saying, but we would like to be better at home, and improve our record here.”

For a team that has been the polar opposite when playing on the road, the last thing the Bruins want is to be below .500 at home for the second straight season. Since last October, the Black and Gold are 24-26-6 in front of the debatable 17,565 on Causeway Street. In that same span, they’re 34-18-6 away from North Station.

“What works on the road works at home and it doesn’t have to be pretty, it doesn’t have to make the top 10, but we’ve got to get pucks to the net and get ugly and put a crooked number up on the board and play well in front of our goalies to give them a chance to make big saves and just play better all around,” Backes added. “And I think we can make a couple more notches in the right direction we’re going to be right where we need to be, but for now it hasn’t been good enough and that’s on us in this room.”

It doesn’t have to be the most awe-inspiring brand of hockey for Bruins fans. They just need a reason to claim they’re getting their money’s worth after paying hefty prices on tickets, concessions, parking and souveniers.