One thing bought into Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery after Saturday's lackluster efficiency at TD Backyard … and possibly it was a bit of Alice Cooper.
As in, No extra Mr. Good Man.
That was the message Montgomery appeared to ship to his locker room with some pointed feedback after the B's have been booed off the ice in a Three-Zero loss to the Washington Capitals.
“We're not going to simply accept that. We're going to alter or issues are going to alter,” Montgomery mentioned. “It's not acceptable.”
When knowledgeable head coach talks about adjustments, he often refers to jobs. Whether or not that's present gamers heading to the ninth flooring as scratches, youthful guys from the Windfall Bruins being referred to as up, or commerce reinforcements stays to be seen. Montgomery added that every one choices, together with merely altering programs and technique, must be on the desk if the staff doesn't collectively screw up.
Does this all appear a bit sturdy contemplating Boston nonetheless leads the Atlantic Division by three factors? The Bruins have the second-best file within the NHL and simply swept the one staff forward of them, Vancouver, final Thursday at TD Backyard…so issues should be going fairly properly, proper?
To me, that's precisely why Montgomery needed to deliver out the massive weapons after Saturday's loss. The B's had their fewest pictures on aim of the 12 months with 18 and have been poor in a house loss to Calgary final Tuesday. It was good to deal with the Canucks in between…however the Bruins hadn't misplaced two of three at residence all 12 months and definitely hadn't performed this unhealthy.
Stanley Cup contender Tampa Bay visits TD Backyard on Tuesday evening. Seattle is right here Thursday, with the Los Angeles Kings coming into Saturday and a Cup-facing Dallas staff visiting on President's Day. Up subsequent is the normal faculty vacation week journey to the West Coast…so you possibly can see how if the Bruins let the unhealthy habits that emerged final week cross, they may quickly discover themselves sliding down the standings.
What have been these unhealthy habits? An absence of urgency and a little bit of complacency have slipped into Boston's play. Dropping puck battles, not paying the worth in foul areas, settling for simply blocked or saved outdoors pictures, and so forth.
“It's simply that if there's a puck between you and me, I need to break your leg to get it, and we don't have that proper now in two of the final three video games,” Montgomery mentioned. “That's what it boils right down to.”
In Montgomery's first season final 12 months, he by no means bought an opportunity to gentle up his staff. Boston cruised to the President's Trophy and the highest seed within the playoffs with an NHL file for many factors in a season. They by no means confronted a lot adversity, by no means performed unhealthy sufficient to warrant a dressing down.
Because of this, Montgomery emerged as a participant's coach, a let it occur man extra prone to crack smart than throw his clipboard on the ice. He might have ceded an excessive amount of management to his veteran locker room at instances, considering they themselves would steer the ship by means of troubled waters, as they’ve all season.
Till they didn't, when Florida knocked off Boston within the first spherical of the playoffs. By the point issues turned bitter in the midst of that night, it was too late to offer the performs an opportunity and do a tricky man routine. The gamers wouldn’t reply.
That, to me, is the good thing about unloading Montgomery after a seemingly innocuous common season recreation in February. Now his gamers have heard the wrath. In the event that they need to push that button throughout a playoff run, they'll reply extra.
Plus, I feel Montgomery is aware of his staff isn't as dominant because it was a 12 months in the past. They’re tied for third within the Japanese Convention in regulation wins (28) and regulation/extra time wins (30). They're not adequate to relaxation on their laurels, particularly with a parade of robust opponents headed to Boston over the subsequent six days.
After the playoff flameout, Montgomery's joke routine was incessantly questioned. Now, we see that a lot of final 12 months's model was merely a mirrored image of what he thought his veteran staff wanted.
Now, with one other group, he's happening one other observe. Listening to Montgomery speak with some fireplace and seeing that he has that membership's proverbial teaching bag is an efficient factor. And that's precisely what this Bruins staff wants.
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