It was just the start the Bruins were looking for against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday evening. Patrice Bergeron lit the lamp just 33 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead, but the Bolts scored four unanswered goals and cruised to a 5-3 victory.

Steven Stamkos and Brad Marchand dropped the gloves midway through the first period after Marchand took a run at Valtteri Filppula, but the momentum shifted to the Bolts instead of the Black and Gold.

Tuukka Rask was pulled from the game in the middle of the second period after allowing four goals on 12 shots. Rask has appeared in 61 of the B’s 73 games, which is almost unheard of even for a reigning Vezina Trophy winner.

On Boston.com: Bruins’ playoff hopes get ‘Thunderstruck’

With just nine games left, and on the outside looking in at the postseason, the Black and Gold welcome the Western Conference leading Anaheim Ducks to TD Garden.

The B’s come into the game losers of their last five (0-3-2), while the Ducks, losers of two in a row, bring in a 5-5-0 record in their last 10 games. Anaheim’s road record is quite impressive though, as they sport a 21-12-4 record away from the Honda Center, but have struggled against Eastern Conference foes (14-13-2) this season.

The Ducks took the only meeting this season 3-2(December 1, 2014), but the B’s were without the services of Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller, Adam McQuaid, David Krejci and Max Talbot.

Dougie Hamilton is out indefinitely, but the Bruins are expected to get Krejci back in the lineup as Krejci has been deemed a game time decision. The Czech center missed the last month of the season due to a partially torn MCL that he suffered back on February 19th against the St. Louis Blues.

Here is your complete Bruins-Ducks Preview:

Gametime: 7:00 PM
Records: Bruins 36-25-11 (84 points)/Ducks 46-22-7 (99 points)
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: TD Garden

Bruins’ projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Krejci
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Reilly Smith-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Chris Kelly-Gregory Campbell-Max Talbot

Zdeno Chara-Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug-Dennis Seidenberg
Matt Bartkowski-Zach Trotman

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Ducks’ projected lines:

Patrick Maroon-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry
Matt Beleskey-Ryan Kesler-Kyle Palmieri
Andrew Cogliano-Nate Thompson-Jakob Silfverberg
Tomas Fleischmann-Rickard Rakell-Jiri Sekac

Hampus Lindholm-Francois Beauchemin
Simon Despres-James Wisniewski
Sami Vatanen-Clayton Stoner

Frederik Andersen
John Gibson

Who to watch for Bruins: Dennis Seidenberg

With Hamilton out, Seidenberg is one of Boston’s blue liners that needs to step up. If his recent play is any indication, the B’s could be in a world of hurt.

Seidenberg has struggled significantly as of late. He looks old, slow and overpaid. In his last three games, the 33 year-old has racked up a minus-5 rating for Claude Julien. Over his last two games with Hamilton out, the German defenseman has got some extra burn skating an average of 23 minutes, which is not a great sign with the way he is playing.

There was talk around the Trade Deadline that Boston needed an extra defenseman, but GM Peter Chiarelli chose to add Brett Connolly and Max Talbot instead. Now, it is even more evident how bad the B’s defense has struggled this season without Johnny Boychuk and Kevan Miller.

Seidenberg has played in every game for the B’s this season (73) and has a measly three goals and nine assists. He also ripped a shot in practice that broke Connolly’s index finger that hasn’t allowed him to suit up in a Bruins’ sweater yet. It’s been just a miserable year for the veteran defenseman.

Who to watch for Ducks: Corey Perry

Perry leads the best team in the Western Conference in goals with 31, which ranks him ninth in the NHL. His 51 points ranks him only behind Ryan Getzlaf for the team lead.

The 2011 Hart Trophy winner can do it all. In his last game against the Blue Jackets, he notched his 20th assist of the year. Over his last five games, the 29 year-old has three goals and two assists while riffling off 20 shots on goal.

Last season, Perry played in 81 games notching 82 points (43 goals, 39 assists). Despite only playing in 60 games this season, the veteran winger is still quite productive.

If the B’s want to stay alive in the playoff hunt, Perry needs to be stopped.

Game Day Edge: It’s do or die time

The B’s find themselves needing help to get into the playoffs at this point in time. A few weeks ago, it seemed as if Boston was a shoe in to make the playoffs with the way they were playing, but things changed fast.

Boston is in a big hole and they need to dig themselves out of it quickly, especially with the Ducks invading TD Garden. It’s no longer about effort and fight. It’s about getting results at this time of year and Julien’s team hasn’t done that as of late.

There needs to be desperation from the entire team on Thursday night, not just a few guys. With nine games left in their season, the B’s find themselves more than likely to have a longer summer than expected.

If the B’s want to be playing hockey late into April, they need to go on one of those stretches where they don’t lose. That can happen as we saw a few weeks ago. And how did that happen? By scoring first, establishing physicality and playing tight defense.