What the Bruins hoped would be a hay-making homestand is producing more uncomfortable questions than points.

After beating the Utah Mammoth to start the five-game residency, the B’s lost to the Edmonton Oilers, squandered a winnable game in a shootout to the Vancouver Canucks and, on Sunday night, took a thorough beating at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, 6-2, at the Garden.

In many critical junctures of the game, the B’s found themselves outworked by the Sens and, though Ottawa may yet turn out to be the class of Atlantic Division, that should not be happening.

Their penalty kill, good at the start of the season, has fallen on very hard times recently. The PK allowed two more power-play goals on Sunday, the seventh straight game they’ve allowed a PP goal. The B’s also seem to be in search of the right combination for the top line. Sunday’s iteration – David Pastrnak-Pavel Zacha-Casey Mittelstadt – finished minus-2 and were outplayed by the Sens’ big guns.

They have one game to get right against their archrival Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at the Garden before the three-day Christmas break. After that, the B’s will play five straight on the road, where they’re 8-9. As tight as the Eastern Conference standings are, one lengthy slump could put this team down too deep a hole.

All of a sudden, the B’s find themselves in a precarious spot.

Sunday’s game was never really close.

Prior to the game, Marco Sturm called the Senators one of the best teams in the league. Then the B’s went out and made them look like the ‘85 Oilers in the first period as the Sens raced out to 3-0 lead.

It was clear the B’s were going to have trouble with the Sens – and the puck – in the early going as Ottawa immediately began creating scoring chances. It took just 1:30 for one to find the back of the net. Off a rush, Nick Jensen dropped the puck for Drake Batherson, who beat Joonas Korpisalo to the glove side on a mid-slot shot.

The B’s were lucky to keep it a one-goal deficit for as long as they did. Korpisalo stopped Tim Stutzle on one shorthanded breakaway early on the period and another one late. But at 13:44, the Sens dominated the slot and, on their third try, doubled their lead. In the low slot, Batherson was able to kick a loose puck over to Claude Giroux at the right side of the net and the veteran was able to score shortside.

When Fabian Zetterlund was able to beat Korpisalo 3:03 later on a bad-angle shot on the power play – marking the seventh straight game the B’s have allowed a man-advantage goal – this one was looking like a lost cause.

But the Sens did what they could to give the B’s some life before the period was out. Stutzle and Artem Zub took penalties 24 seconds apart, giving the B’s a lengthy 5-on-3. David Pastrnak beat old friend Linus Ullmark from the left circle for his 14th of the year at 19:07. They would start the second period still with 40 seconds left on the Zub penalty.

They could not cash in on the rest of the PP, but they put on some good pressure in the first few minutes of the period. They had a great chance to get to within a goal on a backdoor play but the puck bounced over his stick.

Soon, it would become evident that the signs of life were a mirage.

The Senators scored two goals in 19 seconds to put the game back on the blowout track. They earned the first one, outworking the Bruins’ third pairing of Mason Lohrei and Victor Soderstrom and anyone else who was close to the net. Finally, Pavel Zacha could not tie up Stutzle’s stick at the side of the crease and he beat Korpisalo from in tight.

Then on the next shift, Dylan Cozens’ shot from the blue line eluded Korpisalo and that was it for the B’s backup netminder for the night. Jeremy Swayman, who had played his fourth straight game in the shootout loss to Vancouver on Saturday, was pressed back into action.

Later in the period, Tanner Jeannot locked up with fellow heavyweight Kurtis MacDermid but before any blows were landed, MacDermid lost his footing.

The B’s did get one back, as Charlie McAvoy’s first of the year that broke through a crowd at 14:36, but the Sens answered right back with another Zetterlund power-play goal.

There was bad blood throughout this one and it spilled over with a minute left. Mark Kastelic and MacDermid had a throw-down in the third period. Nikita Zadorov went after Dylan Cozens for what he felt was a cheap shot. And after Brady Tkachuk was yapping at Pastrnak during a timeout with 1:01 left, Jensen dumped Pastrnak off the faceoff and then Ridley Greig started throwing punches at the Bruin star.

Perhaps the Sens took their liberties because it was the end of the season series and were feeling good about themselves. They had a right, going 3-0-1 in the series. But it looked and felt pretty cheap.

Maybe that’s what it will take to snap the B’s back to attention. We shall see.