Boston Bruins Head Coach May Have Over Played His Hand

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Dylan Robillard
June 18, 2023 (5:46 PM)

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Everyone knows the story by now in how the Boston Bruins had a remarkable regular season be cut down after a poor Stanley Cup Playoffs.

One person to blame for the Boston Bruins struggles in the first round is head coach Jim Montgomery, despite the record breaking season.

In his first year as head coach the Bruins had 65 wins with only 12 regulation loses, things looked promising for the black and gold. They were unstoppable, until the Playoffs rolled around and it looked like Montgomery had lost control.

Jim Montgomery views the postseason this year as a lesson on what not to due. He admits that he didn't read the room well when things started to fall apart for him and the Bruins players in the series. Given the fact that Bruins hadn't faced much failure in the regular season. After further review, he can tell that the Boston Bruins weren't the same team who fought to win all of those 65 games.

«I've watched the games back. We didn't play as fast as we did in the regular season,» Montgomery pointed out. «Those are things that are going to eat at me until we start playing again next year. We simply didn't do what we did. And there's no hiding from that. We're not going to hide from that.
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You look at that those things and look at body language, looking at guy's eyes, wanting the moment versus not wanting the moment. I've done some reading on some body language stuff that might help me as a coach, you know, moving forward, but in the end, we know we didn't get the job done. And that stays with us. It's gonna stay with me forever. I think we had the team to win at all. And, for me, I've always felt I've been able to talk about that last third of the year. Get my team to play its best at the most important time. And I failed the process.»

Not only did the players get overlooked but the best goalie tandem in the league fell apart. Instead of switching in and out between Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins head coach stuck with Ullmark and it effected the groove the two netminders were in. In the Playoffs it is common for a team to go with the stronger goalie but when you have Ullmark and Swayman together it is important to use both of them. Linus Ullmark was quickly overworked as he shut down in the series and the Bruins could never recover.

Jim Montgomery also spoke about how he didn't regret bringing back captain Patrice Bergeron for game 5 but he said it didn't have the same effect as he expected. He was so worried about the fact that when their captain came back into the lineup and scored in game five, the Bruins roster didn't react as Montgomery had hoped.

«I also don't second-guess myself putting Bergeron in Game 5,» the Bruins bench boss said. «People were like, �Why don't you just save him for the second round?' Could you imagine what people would be saying if they knew I didn't play Bergeron and he was healthy Game 5 and we lost? I mean, he scored..»

Unfortunately this year had its ups and downs for the Bruins, but it is how they bounce back that's most important.

Source: Bostonhockeynow