Jim Montgomery Explains Bruins’ Need To Improve On Penalties

Boston has had a special season so far with very little to complain about, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still improve in some key areas.

The Bruins are doing a lot of things right on the ice, leaving them with an NHL-best 24-4-2 record. Believe it or not, however, the record could be even better if they can straighten out a few parts of their game — specifically penalties. Boston ranks seventh in the NHL in penalties per game at 4.60. That’s something head coach Jim Montgomery believes they can work on coming up.

Ahead of the Bruins’ matchup with the Florida Panthers on Monday night, Montgomery explained how his team needs to cut down on the penalties they are taking which has cost them a few times this season, especially in the shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings this past Thursday.

“Well we do think it can be improved,” Montgomery said, per team video. “And it has to be improved. And it’s because when we check with our legs first, we don’t take a lot of penalties. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of stick infractions in the offensive zone that we would like to eliminate. We don’t get scored on when it’s those instigator penalties when you’re defending a teammate, when you’re eliminating the scoring chance at the goalmouth. You kill those off.

“That’s what we’re looking at and a little bit of it is we play with the lead a lot. And it’s just natural you get more penalties when you’re playing with the lead. We tend to get a lot of power plays early. We get a lead. We establish a lead then all of a sudden the other team gets penalties and we have to kill those off.”

Despite being top 10 in the league in most penalties, the Bruins are first in penalty kill heading into Monday night at 84.6 percent. So like Montgomery said, improvement can still be made but they’re killing them when needed.

Boston hosts the Panthers at TD Garden on Monday. NESN’s pregame coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET.