The Boston Bruins had the NHL’s best regular season record, but that no longer matters when it comes to the playoffs.
Wait, it actually does.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery met with reporters when the team arrived at Jet Aviation FBO in Bedford, Mass. on Saturday afternoon following Boston’s Game 6 loss to the Florida Panthers and said the regular season may be over, but it still affects Game 7.
“As an opportunity, that’s the word that comes to my mind is, you know, you’re playing the game seven at home,” Montgomery said, per video provided by the team. “We had the regular season we had that’s over and done with, but it got us this game seven to play in front of our great fans. And it’s an opportunity to go and seize the moment.”
The Black and Gold had two previous opportunities to close out their first-round series against the Panthers, but miscommunication and miscues prevented Boston from clinching win No. 4.
“I think the root of it is it’s the playoffs, and everything’s magnified,” Montgomery explained. “And I think we know we preach about staying in the moment. And for the majority of the season, and majority of this series, we’ve been able to do it.
“But there’s times where I think, for whatever reason, whether it’s a coaching decision, it’s save selection. It’s, you know, a puck decision, or it’s a defensive decision. Guys have not stayed in the moment. I think they’ve worried about making mistakes.”
In Game 6, the Bruins were chasing the score from the get-go and thought they had taken the lead in the middle frame when Brando Carlo beat Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to put Boston up 3-2. The goal was waived off on a controversial hand pass behind the Florida net.
The Presidents’ Trophy winners have seen the Panthers play with desperation and tried to implement that same mentality into their game plan ahead of Game 6 but saw Florida score three unanswered goals to force Game 7 which led to frustration behind the Boston bench.
“It’s the lack of execution right, which I guess I’ve been spoiled. I haven’t had a lot of moments like that. Where guys are, you know, not executing,” Montgomery said. “… It was a combination of three goals in a row that were very uncommon. And it’s not one player doing it. It’s different players at different moments. Right. So that was the frustration part is surprised, frustrated.”
Montgomery didn’t say if the club would stick with Linus Ullmark, who has been honest about his performance in the past two losses or switch to Jeremy Swayman, who has only played three minutes of the best-of-seven series, in the win-or-go-home game Sunday night and said the Bruins’ standard of hockey doesn’t rely on any one player.
“It’s, I think I said it last night to like, you know when I’m behind the bench, I always look at the team. I don’t look at individuals. Everyone’s gonna make mistakes. They made many mistakes. We made more mistakes, right? But you forced teams to make mistakes. And when I look at the team, it’s like, Okay, we have layers to what we do. You know, so one guy gets be why are we not shutting down the next layer not shutting down what’s happening?
“So I look at the team voice, and I just don’t look at what did the goalie do. What did this defenseman do? What did that forward do? Because I think if as a coach, you’re always relating to what’s going on with your team, it’s never personal. When you address a player, it’s about, you know, executing what the team needs. And it’s always a family-first mentality, which is what the Bruins are about.”
The Bruins will look to clean up the self-inflicted turnovers when they host the Panthers on Sunday night. Puck drop from TD Garden in the decisive Game 7 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. NESN.com will bring you all the in-depth analysis and game action throughout the playoffs. You can watch the final game of the first round, along with an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
