On paper, the Bruins appeared to have a friendly slate for their first seven regular season contests. Of those teams in the first few weeks of the season, only one squad made the playoffs in 2016-17 – the defending Nashville Predators.

Without the likes of Patrice Bergeron, David Backes and Torey Krug on opening night, the young Bruins squad found a way to impress against the defending Western Conference champs. As the injuries piled up, however, the Bruins couldn’t quite capitalize on that momentum from Game 1 of 82 back on October 5.

Even with the eventual returns of Bergeron, Backes and Krug, the Bruins are still searching for consistency.

So far it’s a step of one step forward and two steps back. Their 4-3 win over the Preds was followed by a home and home sweep to the Colorado Avalanche. The bounce-back win over the Coyotes following the Avs’ burial was a distant memory when they fell to the expansion Vegas Golden Knights the very next night. Just as they kicked off the four-game homestand with a win over the Vancouver Canucks, the Bruins suffered yet another setback after blowing a 4-1 lead and fell to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime.

In that span, the Bruins got another proverbial kick to the gut with the likes of Noel Acciari, Adam McQuaid and Ryan Spooner being placed on injured reserve.

Granted, the Avs appear to be heading in a better direction after a disastrous 2016-17 season, and the Golden Knights are playing some inspiring hockey in their first eight games. As for the loss to the Sabres? Well, that’s something the young and injury-plagued Bruins will have to turn into a positive.

Starting on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks – the third game of the homestand – the Bruins will embark on a stretch of nine games in 17 days. The slate also includes a division leader in the Kings, the white-hot Alex Ovechkin led Capitals, another trio of playoff teams from a year ago in the Wild, Blue Jackets and Rangers and a home and home against the red-hot Maple Leafs.

Not the same as last year’s condensed schedule following the World Cup of Hockey, but the Bruins will certainly be busy.

“I think we need to play some games to see where we’re at and better evaluate our group as well,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said about following Wednesday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena.

“I think for the guys, it’s a much more enjoyable process as well; especially after last year where the start of the year was crazy – I think that was too much. And now, we’d like to get back at it, especially after [the Sabres loss] Saturday. No one felt good about the way we finished. We liked a lot of things early on, so you want to go out there and correct them and make amends, so tomorrow can’t come soon enough.”

Cassidy and company hope those corrections from the Saturday’s game come in handy against former Bruin Joe Thornton and the rest of the Sharks. As they’ve been accustomed to all season however, the Bruins will have to overcome another loss as David Krejci (upper body), will miss the next two games.

With Krejci out, the Bruins will move Backes from wing to center. The former Blue has practiced on the second line with Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak since the beginning of the week.

“I feel like they have extra pep in their steps, so hopefully I put pucks far enough in front of them to keep them going and help them score some more goals,” Backes said about skating with DeBrusk and Pastrnak. “Pasta has that ability and JD [DeBrusk] has the wheels and the finish and just needs more repetition and opportunities and pucks are going to begin falling for him. He’ll be another dangerous weapon that we’ll have.

At least there’s some good news on the injury front. Both Kevan Miller (upper body) and Tuukka Rask (concussion) practiced with the team over the last two days and could both return as early as Thursday. Rask missed last week’s tilts against the Canucks and Sabres after his collision with Anders Bjork at practice, while Miller left the Bruins’ blueline shorthanded against Buffalo on Saturday night.

Sooner or later, the Bruins need to get a better bill of health. More importantly, they need to pile up some wins in this tough stretch. Otherwise, they may find themselves in a deep hole in their quest to return to the playoffs for a second straight season.