BOSTON — There will be plenty of time for Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery to second-guess decisions he made throughout Boston’s first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Florida Panthers.
But Montgomery already looked back briefly at things he would have done differently following a stunning 4-3 overtime loss to the Panthers in Game 7 on Sunday night at TD Garden that knocked the Bruins out of the postseason.
While it was tough to judge everything he would have changed in the immediate aftermath of a crushing defeat, there was one thing Montgomery wished he had back.
“The only thing I can look at right now and say I would have done different is start of Game 5 I would have had (Patrice) Bergeron and (Brad) Marchand together,” Montgomery said. “Took me eight minutes to get to there. Don’t know if it makes a difference. That’s the only thing that I look at that I would change. I don’t have really much regret with anything that we did. That’s why I said I have to analyze more of the series and have a better, more intelligent answer about where we went wrong.”
The Bruins didn’t adjust well throughout the series to the Panthers’ aggressive forecheck, which forced Boston into more mistakes in Game 7. Montgomery shouldered the blame in that respect for not figuring out an answer to Florida’s constant pressure.
“I felt like we had the right personnel, and I have to take some responsibility for not being able to get us to play north quicker,” Montgomery said. “If I can answer that right now, it lies on me.”
Montgomery certainly will have a lot of time on his hands going forward to figure out everything he would have done differently with the Bruins’ offseason beginning sooner than expected.
