With the rut that the luckless Bruins are stuck in, even their mothers can’t pull them out of it.

With the moms along for the ride on the annual family trip, the B’s furious third-period comeback attempt fell short and their losing streak stretched to six (0-5-1) with a 4-1 loss to the Lightning in Tampa.

The B’s goal scoring woes and their exploding cigar of a power play put them in a hole in the second period that they could not extricate themselves. They gave up a shorthanded goal and another preventable tally in the middle period then could manage only goal themselves in a spirited third period as the Bolts leapfrogged them over them in the standings.

The Bruins tempted fate in the scoreless first period and survived. They gave the Lightnings’ explosive power play two opportunities and they killed both of them.

And Jeremy Swayman continued his excellent work from the Edmonton game in the first. He made several good stops, the best of which may have been a stick save on a Brayden Point backdoor chance.

Even at 5-on-5, the B’s spent more time in their own zone than they wanted, thanks to a couple of unforced turnovers but they were able to overcome them as well.

But it wasn’t a lopsided period. The Bolts had a 11-9 shot advantage but, once the B’s killed the second PP, the start to push back. Oliver Wahlstrom had two great chances late in the period. He tried to go backhand on Andrei Vasilevskiy and was thwarted. He recovered his own rebound but sent his forehand shot just wide.

Still, the B’s were spending too much time in their own zone and got the next penalty in the second period when Nikita Zadorov took his second of the game, a hold on Mikey Eyssimont. Thanks to Swayman, they killed that one off, too, and should have gotten their first power-play chance when, in the waning seconds of the Lightning PP, Brandon Hagel interfered with Pavel Zacha. But when Zacha dove to knock the puck out of the zone in a continuance the play, he was wrongly called for an embellishment.

The B’s had their best chance when Morgan Geekie stole the puck from Vasilevskiy behind the net and he fed David Pastrnak at the left side of the net. With Vasilevskiy scrambling to get back in the net, Pastrnak fed John Beecher for what looked like a tap-in, but Beecher shot it back into Vasilevskiy.

The B’s finally did get a power play when Victor Hedman hauled down Beecher, but it was yet another disaster.

The B’s changed the power play units, putting Mason Lohrei on the top unit and splitting up Brad Marchand and Pastrnak. It didn’t matter. Once again, Pastrnak turned it over on a zone entry and Ryan McDonagh threw a bank pass up the ice. Hagel caught up to it for a breakaway. Thanks to a little stick work from Lohrei from behind, Hegel’s shot went wide. But it bounced hard off the end boards and Swayman lost where the puck was. It bounced straight back out to Anthony Cirelli, who roofed it over Swayman’s shoulder at 14:07.

Then came the back breaker. In the final minute of the period, Swayman gave up a soft one to Eyssimont. With Andrew Peeke caught up ice, Eyssimont broke in a rush and had Lohrei backing up too much before he beat Swayman to the shortside with a wrister with 50 seconds left in the period.

Considering the B’s weren’t exactly peppering Vasilevskiy, the two-goal deficit looked mountainous at that point.

But the B’s did fight back, and Lohrei redeemed himself with his second of the year at 2:05 of the third. Lohrei took a feed from Peeke at his left point position, made a nice toe drag to get to the high slot and he beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot. It was the first goal from a Bruin defenseman since Dec. 3.

Swayman kept the B’s in the game with a tough stops on Jake Guentzel and then Hagel. Then the B’s started to apply their best pressure of the game. Beecher looked like he had the equalizer on his stick off a rebound of Mark Kastelic shot but he put it over the net. Then Geekie clanged the crossbar.

Finally, Hagel ended it with an empty netter with 1:32 left in regulation. Point added another one on a power play with 35 seconds to go.

If the loss wasn’t bad enough, Kastelic went in for a late hit on Emil Lilleberg and Lilleberg crosschecked him under the chin. Kastelic threw some punches before Lilleberg threw him to the ice and Kastelic seemed dazed as he went off. Lilleberg was given a major and game misconduct, but with two seconds left, it didn’t matter much, other than any possible injury to Kastelic.