EDMONTON, Alberta — From 30,000 feet, the Bruins’ tour of Western Canada looked good.

They banked 4 of 6 points. Fifteen pucks found their way through Ryan Miller, Chad Johnson, and Cam Talbot, a bounty for a club that could not shoot straight for more than half the year. They put an end to the 10-game win streak of the Flames, the hottest bunch in the league. And Brad Marchand’s hands and stick continued to be ablaze as the left wing kept pace with Connor McDavid atop the NHL’s scoring list. 

 But from ground level, where every game could dictate the Bruins’ postseason fortunes, Bruce Cassidy was not thinking about the big picture after Thursday’s 7-4 thumping in Edmonton. 

 “We’ll park this one,’’ said Cassidy. “We lost the game. That’s the way we look at it. I’m not going to sum up the road trip. We lost this game. We won yesterday. We won on Monday. Our goal is to go into Toronto [Monday] and play well.’’ 

 Coaches face the challenge of balancing short- and long-term outlooks. The Bruins got some help Thursday when Ottawa also lost, which kept the Senators just 3 points ahead in the sprint for second place in the Atlantic Division.

The Bruins are 12-4-0 since Cassidy took the wheel, a good record for a team that had been skidding sideways. Against the Oilers, they shrugged off a 3-0 first-period deficit to close within one goal, indicating that they don’t tuck their tails at the first signal of misfortune. 

 “We fell behind there by three goals and battled back,’’ said Tuukka Rask, who, like most of his teammates, did not have his good stuff against the Oilers. “Lot of bad things and some good things. We battled back but not enough there. Tough start to the second period. Still, we never quit, so that’s a great sign.’’ 

 Exceptions happen, especially considering the Bruins’ situation Thursday. It was their third game in four nights. On Wednesday, they had submitted a professional effort in their 5-2 win over Calgary. In the third period, when the Flames tried to push, the Bruins never let them find their legs. 

 They locked down everything: The slot, the neutral zone, and Calgary’s power play. The Bruins barred the door at their blue line to keep Calgary from gaining clean entries. When the Flames got some looks, the Bruins blocked shots — Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller being two of the defensemen who did not hesitate to step in front of speeding pucks. 

 Those foundational elements of success went away against Edmonton. The Oilers present challenges for any opponent because of their mixture of skill and muscle. They overwhelmed the Bruins in center ice, picked apart their usual net-front stoutness, and made the league’s best penalty kill leak like a sieve. 

 “It’s an outlier,’’ Torey Krug said. “It’s something that doesn’t happen very often with this team. It does serve as a wake-up call to fix some things defensively. Maybe we were a little too comfortable.

“But we’ve played a couple games before this game where I thought we did a strong job in our slot. They took the game over in our slot. Hopefully we can just tighten up next time.’’ 

 The weary Bruins staggered back to Boston early Friday morning. They will not apply skate blade to ice until Sunday morning at Warrior Ice Arena for a tuneup before departing for Toronto for Monday’s game. They not only deserve the rest, they need it for what they’ll be facing. 

 The Maple Leafs, who laid a 5-0 beating on Tampa Bay on Thursday, are dangermen in the rearview mirror. On Tuesday, the Bruins will host the Senators, who would like to create some separation between second and third place. On Thursday, the Bruins will take on the surging Lightning, their third game in four nights. They complete the week with a Saturday visit to Brooklyn, where the Islanders are still scrapping for the second wild-card entry. 

 It is a critical week against four teams residing in the Bruins’ cluster. As much as the Bruins have surged under Cassidy, they are still not comfortable in the standings. 

 “You have to realize that every night, every team, every game, you have to show up and be good,’’ Patrice Bergeron said. “You can’t rely on the success we’ve had lately. Hopefully we realize that and go from there.’’ 

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.