At 59 points, the Bruins are tied with the Washington Capitals atop the National Hockey League standings.

So no, the sky is not falling.

However, the Bruins recent trend is a not so good one, and a slippery slope should they continue this trend.

Thursday’s contest with the Columbus Blue Jackets was very much the same Bruins team we’ve seen of late.

Build a lead.

Take said lead into the third period.

Blow third period lead.

Lose in overtime or the shootout.

It was the second straight contest the Bruins followed this pattern. Tuesday was a shootout loss to the Devils. Thursday night was overtime.

Same ol’ song and dance.

"It's frustrating, obviously there have been plenty of them (OT and shootout losses) this year," said David Pastrnak, who scored his league leading 30th goal of the season in the loss. "Probably getting a little bit in our head. We want to win a lot of those. Missing some confidence there. We haven't been doing well in it, so it's frustrating."

The Bruins have 11 overtime or shootouts losses this season, with nine of those coming on home ice. That’s three more overtime/shootout losses than the Blue Jackets who have the second most overtime/shootout losses with eight.

"It's another lead going into the third period we weren't able to close out. That's as frustrating as anything. You give up a goal, you push to try to get another one,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said following the loss. "As for the overtime, some of it is we've got to smarten up. Can't get caught diving down low. That's happened more than once this year. That's cost us a few times, so at some point you've got to learn from those mistakes as well."

Thanks to their hot start to the 2019-20 campaign, the Bruins built themselves a nice little cushion in the Atlantic Division standings. They enter play Friday night eight points ahead of the second place Toronto Maple Leafs.

But if the Bruins continue their third period trend, and continue to leave valuable points on the table, that once comfortable lead in the Atlantic may cause the Bruins to become a little restless.

New head coach Sheldon Keefe has the Leafs playing much better hockey, and the Tampa Bay Lightning have started to turn things around, winning seven of their last 10.

Picking up a single point in their frustrating overtime and shootout losses has prevented the ship from sinking, but the Bruins know they need to be picking up these extra points, even if it’s going 50% from here on out in the extra sessions.

“Luckily they don’t play 3-on-3 overtime in the playoffs,” said Torey Krug who returned to the lineup Thursday after missing two games with an upper-body injury. “But for now, we’re capturing points and we have to find a way to capture a few more. Even if we go 50 percent [in overtime or shootout games] with what we’ve done in the past, we’re probably up five, six points probably. So we have to find a way to do it.”

Even if the Bruins had won four of those 11 overtime/regulation losses, they would have a little bit of breathing room over the Capitals, and a double-digit lead over the surging Maple Leafs.

It’s not a talent issue for the Bruins, especially in the three-on-three overtime format. It’s been a combination of not making that extra play and a little bit of bad puck luck.

“Early in overtime, we had a clean 3-on-2 and we don’t get a shot on net. Like I said, there was a little confidence missing there,” added Pastrnak.

“You don’t want to make a bad shot and then they fire back at you and they’re going to end up scoring. We need to win one of those and hopefully it’s going to be the next one.”

Thankfully for the Bruins sake, three-on-three overtime and the shootout are non-existent in the postseason as Krug mentioned.

Hopefully blowing third period leads will be too.

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