By now, it’s clear that the hatred that the Bruins and Panthers have for each other does not rest.

Not even with a 1 p.m. holiday Monday start, and not even with both Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness) out of action for the defending champions.

But for the Bruins, the story remained the same, as lost battles and self-inflicted wounds proved to once again be the club’s downfall against the Panthers in a 4-3 loss at TD Garden.

“They’re winning the mental side of the battle on us,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of the Panthers following his team’s loss. “Yup, Pastrnak got hit and I love what [Zacha] did [when he] went in and defended him. But the penalties after that? I mean it’s just not disciplined. It’s all four games that we take at least four minors. Can’t win hockey games that way.”

In a first period showing that featured a combined 26 minutes in penalties between the sides, the Bruins struck first behind a Mark Kastelic shot tipped by Johnny Beecher for Beecher’s first goal of the year.

But the Panthers would respond just 1:44 after the Beecher strike, as Anton Lundell got a fortunate bounce off Hampus Lindholm’s leg and then a skate adjustment from Jeremy Swayman to tuck the puck into the Boston cage. And the Panthers then carried a one-goal edge into the first intermission when Sam Reinhart ripped home an absolute bullet through Swayman following an avoidable cross-checking penalty from Charlie McAvoy, who got away with two checks before they caught the third.

In need of a positive play as much as any one player could be just four games into a season, Brandon Carlo brought the Bruins back even with Florida with his first goal of the season, and though it brought the Garden crowd back to life, it was the mistakes that followed that plagued the B’s middle frame.

On the power play and with a chance to jump ahead following an A.J. Greer offensive-zone penalty, a failed attempt from Matt Poitras to spin off a pressuring penalty-killing Panther blew up in his face and gave the Panthers a shorthanded 2-on-1 opportunity, where Reinhart finished the play for another goal.

Further tenderized by Florida’s relentless grind behind the net, Mason Lohrei’s push to get a line change after a marathon shift also blew up in Boston’s face, as the Panthers found Lundell all alone for a look that should’ve been stopped by Swayman but instead ended up in the back of the net for a 4-2 strike.

And though Lohrei would quickly make up for his gaffe with a snipe by Sergei Bobrovsky to bring the club back within one, the Bruins could not knot things up before the end of the second period.

In pursuit of the game-tying goal, the Bruins had a downright ridiculous push in the third period.

Boston’s best look started with a 2-on-1 opportunity for David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha, and then came a power-play opportunity with just under nine minutes left in regulation. But their best sustained stretch of pressure with almost two full minutes of offensive-zone time against the Panthers.

But, alas, a goal did not come during that stretch, and even when the Bruins pulled the goalie for an extra attacker, a Pastrnak slashing penalty put any hopes of a comeback to bed for the Bruins.

“We can’t lose as many battles as we do,” said Montgomery. “They’re the standard right now in the NHL for winning battles. And we’re not up to that. We have to vastly improve that.”

Montgomery calls out top six following loss

If you're looking for a positive from that loss, it certainly came with the play of Boston's fourth line, which features Johnny Beecher and Cole Koepke as Mark Kastelic's wings.

Kastelic posted a three-assist afternoon, Beecher had a goal and an assist, and Koepke also came through with a helper. But in a seldom-used move, a question about the play of Montgomery's fourth line came with a warning shot of sorts to his top six.

“They’re just doing their role," Montgomery said when asked about the fourth line. "Guys in the top six aren’t doing their role. They are doing their role.”

It's hard to imagine that Montgomery is directly calling out the Zacha-Lindholm-Pastrnak line, as that's a trio that's been more value-add than not through four games. The same cannot be said for Boston's second line, however, with Brad Marchand the only member of the line (which also features Charlie Coyle and Morgan Geekie) to record a point this season.

Everything else

- At a certain point, and if this mental battle is going to be won (or even competitive), the Bruins are going to need to stop trying to get the Panthers to fight them or answer bells. By now, it's pretty obvious that they're not going to play that way. They'll simply torment the Bruins into taking another bad penalty and then strike on the power play. If you're a Bruins fan, this has to be approaching 2007-08 Bruins-Canadiens levels of frustration.

- The Bruins wanted A.J. Greer to fight someone other than Pavel Zacha after Greer's borderline hit on David Pastrnak. Greer apparently declined offers from Mark Kastelic and Trent Frederic.

- This is around the point where I wonder if a lineup shake-up is coming. The Bruins simply aren't generating enough quality looks. At the same time though, it's not as if the club is currently loaded with scoring options in the reserves. Max Jones and Riley Tufte are Boston's current healrhy scratches up front, though Tyler Johnson remains with the club on a PTO.

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