No one can accuse the Bruins of going about their tank job halfheartedly.

The undermanned B’s absorbed their seventh straight loss Wednesday night, getting thumped, 6-2, by an improving Anaheim Ducks team that has a lot of young talent but will miss the playoffs yet again.

The loss may have been another embarrassing one, but it was productive for the Bruins’ long-term goals. The Ducks jumped over the B’s in the overall NHL standings, putting the B’s in 25th place in the 32-team league. Depending on how the ping-pong balls bounce in the draft lottery, the B’s could wind up with a very good pick.

They’re sure earning it.

On Wednesday, the B’s were outplayed by the Ducks from beginning to end and were outshot 38-25, though 16 of those Bruin shots came in the third period when the game was already decided. Joonas Korpisalo, though not perfect, was by far the best Bruin on the night.

The Bruins’ defense corps, already undermanned with Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm still out, got even thinner after Nikita Zadorov had to return to Boston to deal with a family matter, according to the team.

And it showed. Korpisalo was under siege throughout the first period as the B’s were outshot 15-5 in the opening 20 minutes.

It appeared as though Korpisalo had gotten his teammates out of the woods but, after David Pastrnak drew a penalty, the B’s were singed for their 11th shorthanded goal against at 17:33.

On what had already been an ineffective power play, Pastrnak could not keep Leo Carlsson from breaking out of the zone and he took off on a 2-on-1 with Alex Killorn. When the rush arrived in the Boston zone, Mason Lohrei could not prevent Killorn’s return pass from getting back to Carlsson, who’d beaten Elias Lindholm up the ice and he roofed the puck over Korpisalo for the 1-0 lead.

The B’s slowed down the Anaheim shooting gallery for a while in the second period but the Ducks would eventually crank it up again and head into the second intermission with a three-goal lead, thanks to two own goals and a softy.

At 13:58, the Ducks took a 2-0 lead on a rough sequence for Michael Callahan. First, the puck hopped over his stick at the offensive blue line and Nikita Nesterenko was off to the races. Korpisalo stopped Nesterenko’s initial shot but the rebound went off Callahan’s skate and in. To make matters worse, Callahan was nailed with a double-minor for high-sticking on Jansen Harkins as the puck was hitting off Callahan.

But the B’s would get the next goal. The Nesterenko goal nullified one of the minors and 58 seconds into the second minor, Troy Terry was nailed for high-sticking. Then, in an ensuing scrum, Frank Vatrano was called for a roughing minor and a 10-minute misconduct.

When the B’ eventually got to the 5-on-3, Pastrnak scored his 35th goal of the season with a snipe past John Gibson’s glove at 16:20. It’s the fourth straight season he’s hit that 35-goal plateau.

But then the bottom fell out on the B’s as they allowed two goals in 48 seconds.

First, Jackson LaCombe flipped the puck out front from behind the B’s net, it hit Pavel Zacha’s arm and fell behind Korpisalo.

Then Korpisalo, who’d been doing everything he could to that point to keep the B’s in the game, let in a bad one. Cutter Gauthier came off the left boards and threw a soft, bad angle shot that somehow squeaked through the short side at 18:45.

The B’s were outshot 13-4 in the second. It was a trend that didn’t suggest any kind of comeback was on tap.

It wasn’t. Early in the third, Pastrnak turned over the puck in the defensive zone to LaCombe, who fed Carlsson for his second of the game.

After a Callahan-Harkins bout, Anaheim’s Mason McTavish and Morgan Geekie (26) traded goals in garbage time.