Jim Montgomery Defends Decisions Made During Bruins’ Season

The Bruins’ season came to a screeching halt when Boston was eliminated in Game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Florida Panthers.

Looking back and questioning decisions made by the coaching staff is always a famous pastime.

Should stars like Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Krejci have sat out more games down the stretch? Should the goaltending duties have been more spread out to keep Linus Ullmark fresh? So many questions.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery discussed whether or not he would have made any different decisions with Chris Nilan and Tim Stapleton on the “Raw Knuckles” podcast Thursday.

“Yeah, we don’t think so,” Montgomery said. “Internally, we looked, I think Bergeron sat six of the last 18 games, something like that. I know he sat about six games. And it was really calculated, scientifically, of how we were gonna get ourselves best prepared for game one of the playoffs.”

“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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Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery

Despite having a record-breaking season, Montgomery said that was never truly the goal of the team.

“We set the records that was great, but we sat we sat out four players one game in Carolina and we won in the shootout,” the first-year coach said. “… But, when you sit four guys, you’re not going for the record. You’re going to set yourself up for game one of the playoffs.”

Montgomery recognizes that Bergeron and Krejci at the age of 37 are not Bergeron and Krejci at 27 but however, wouldn’t change game management — especially playing Bergeron in Game 5.

“We don’t second guess ourselves with what we did. As far as that,” Montgomery explained. “It’s kind of like I also don’t second guess myself putting Bergeron in Game 5. People were like ‘Why didn’t you save him for the second round?’ Can you imagine what people would be saying if they knew I didn’t play Bergeron and he was healthy in Game 5 and we lost? I mean he scored.

“Unfortunately, it lingers with us what happened. We own it. We know we lost to a good team in Florida. … But, we still were up three-one. You find a way to close that out. That’s the competitor in us. It’s hard to let go, but we gotta move forward.”

“In the end, we know we didn’t get the job done. And that stays with us. It’s gonna stay with me forever.”

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery

The message Montgomery wants to deliver to the core of the team is learning how to grow and make sure whatever happens in the regular season that when they are in the playoffs, they “own the moment.”

“I’ve watched the games back. We didn’t play as fast as we did in the regular season,” Montgomery explained. “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.”

Montgomery said in hindsight he might have sent out different defensive pairings to get better match-ups, but chalks it up to being a part of the learning process.

“You look at that those things and looking at body language, looking at guy’s eyes, wanting the moment versus not wanting the moment,” Montgomery said. “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.”