Bruins Still See ‘Room For Growth’ Amid Regular-Season Bumps

The Bruins struggled to find a groove in the past few weeks, but the early-season roadblocks could serve to benefit Boston when the postseason rolls around.

The Black and Gold suffered an overtime loss to the Devils on Wednesday. New Jersey rallied in the third period to even the game and take the victory in overtime against a shorthanded B’s side.

Goaltending has been the most consistent aspect of the Bruins this season, but head coach Jim Montgomery was proud of those who stepped up in the absences of Pavel Zacha, Charlie McAvoy and Derek Forbort.

“I think we know what our identity is and how we need to play,” Montgomery told reporters, per The Boston Globe’s Tara Sullivan. “But people flourishing in their roles, we’ve still got a lot of room for growth, which is I think the exciting part of our team.”

This season always was going to be different than last season’s historic run no matter how many times you play it out. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired, and players like Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno, Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov departed in the offseason. However, Charlie Coyle stepped up in an increased role, and Morgan Geekie seemed to find his stride as the Bruins’ lone goal scorer in Wednesday’s game.

“You lose two guys out of your lineup that play 20 minutes a night, you’re going to feel it,” Montgomery told reporters. “But I love the way we compete. I love the way the guys who got the extra minutes competed. I like the way the guys that were inserted into the lineup competed. So it was a lot of good things that we liked about the team.

“It was nice to see someone like Geekie flourish in that opportunity. It gets you excited about what our team can continue to grow and be because he really did a good job out there (Wednesday). Played 18 minutes and he was in command of the game in all three zones.”

Geekie was among multiple new additions to the roster, including James van Riemsdyk and Matthew Poitras, who still is coming into his own as an NHL player and someone Montgomery has growing trust in.

Boston went through a slump in late November and this month didn’t start out consistently, but the Bruins remain atop the Atlantic Division, and even though the B’s are unlikely to win another Presidents’ Trophy, the early-season adversity could better prepare the team for a deeper postseason run.