It's not like they don't come out TRYING hard. The first period against LA wasn't even that bad. They just get frustrated by getting trapped in the neutral zone, can't finish the several chances they do manage to generate in spite of this, and run out of steam in the 2nd. They spend the second period hemmed in, then the character guys in the room give an inspiring second intermission speech, and they come back in the third ready to play again.
It's a pattern we see time and time again in the losing streak, and I still think Bednar holds the blame. This is the same roster, minus Z, that was winning games early in the year. The roster isn't the problem, it's Bednar getting out coached night in and night out and not having the ability to adjust his schemes to face the new reality that everybody knows how to slow him down now. Even bottom feeder teams can sit back at the blueline and force them to dump and chase. He needs to shake things up. Tell them to dump it on net instead of around the boards and force a faceoff instead of a clear, SOMETHING new to make teams rethink the clog.