Bruins Notes: Boston Not Pleased With ‘Sleepy’ Stretches

It’s hard to find too many things to complain about with a team who sits at 11-1-2, but the Bruins do have a few things to clean up.

Boston blew a third-period lead to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, giving up two goals within the first three minutes of the stanza to put itself in a hole. The Bruins were able to tie things up, but lost in overtime after Kaiden Guhle put one past Jeremy Swayman.

It was the kind of performance that left Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery with plenty to contemplate moving forward.

“I thought that we made a lot of mental mistakes which is a sign of a tired team,” Montgomery said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I don’t know why we’re tired. We’ve got to look at that internally, as to how we’re practicing and the minutes that we’re on the ice and stuff, but that’s all excuses. You know what the positive is, though? We found a (teaching) point.”

Montgomery wasn’t the only one who felt the Bruins were sluggish, either.

“We were just sleepy at times and didn’t execute the way we can and the way we should,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said. “We’ve got to get better in that area.”

The Bruins will have two days off before they play next, perhaps giving them enough time to get their legs right for an Atlantic Division matchup with the Buffalo Sabres.

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Here are more notes from Saturday night’s matchup between the Bruins and Canadiens:

— Charlie McAvoy made his return from a four-game suspension in this one, he celebrated by assisting on Pavel Zacha’s goal just 36 seconds into the game and drawing two penalties on the same shift.

— Jakub Lauko also made his return, sporting a new look after being knocked from Boston’s lineup due to taking a skate blade to his face. The 23-year-old will wear a full cage for the time being, while deciding that he will likely adopt a neck guard for the remainder of his career.

— The Bruins had won 10 consecutive games against the Canadiens, with Montreal’s last win before Saturday coming in the 2019-2020 season. Boston had a plus-27 goal differential over that stretch.

— The B’s-Habs rivalry still gets the people going despite its recent one-sided nature, though. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) adopted it as Saturday’s “Hockey Night in Canada” game, pushing puck drop back to 7:20 p.m. ET.

— Jeremy Swayman was none too pleased with how his team finished, making the Bruins’ heightened expectations extremely clear.

— The Bruins’ roadie continues Tuesday when they travel back across the border to take on the Sabres. They’ll drop the puck from KeyBank Center at 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.