Bruins Notes: Jim Montgomery Wants To See ‘Killer Instinct’ From Boston

It can be difficult to assess the four-game road trip the Boston Bruins finished Monday night with a shootout loss to the Seattle Kraken.

The Bruins return to Boston after collecting five points on the trip and still have yet to lose a road game in regulation since the calendar flipped to the new year.

But the fashion in which many of those games played out, with Boston coughing up third-period leads, left Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery wanting more.

“I think our play for the majority of time was really good, but not having that killer instinct,” Montgomery told NESN’s Andy Brickley, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “I think this is a trip where we could’ve had seven out of eight (points) the way we played.”

The Bruins held a third-period advantage in three games on the trip and surrendered a game-tying goal each time. They walked away from two of those contests with losses.

It happened again against the Kraken, who skated around the Bruins to begin the third until they leveled the score 5:29 into the frame. Oliver Bjorkstrand then put Seattle ahead with just over five minutes remaining in regulation.

The third-period woes have haunted the Bruins this season as they are 25-1-8 when leading after two periods.

“I just know that we got to continue to develop, show video and make sure we’re playing with a little more killer instinct,” Montgomery said. “(Playing) aggressively to start the period and then understand game management and our outs on breakouts and coming out of the D-zone so we can spend more time in the O-zone.”

Bruins captain Brad Marchand viewed the trip much like Montgomery. There was some good, some bad and not exactly a satisfied feeling with how Boston played, especially at the most crucial times.

“We had a decent road trip. We should have done better. Could have done worse,” Marchand told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “Definitely some areas we need to continue to improve upon. Can’t let games slip away from us. It happened a couple of times on this trip. So, it’s good to get five of eight, but we should have had more.”

Here are more notes from Monday’s Bruins-Kraken game:

— David Pastrnak notched a milestone with his first-period goal, which gave him his 700th career point. It took Pastrnak the fourth-fewest games in franchise history to reach that feat, only trailing Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and Rick Middleton.

— It looked like Pastrnak had his 17th career hat trick late in the third period as hats rained down on the ice even on the road in celebration. But the game-tying goal eventually was awarded to Charlie Coyle, who tipped in Pastrnak’s shot. It was Coyle’s 21st goal of the season, which tied his career high.

— It was a homecoming of sorts for Morgan Geekie, who spent the last two seasons with the Kraken. Geekie even got a quick tribute video.

The Bruins forward, who left the game a little bit late in the second period after taking a puck off the face from a Kevin Shattenkirk shot, was also involved in a controversial play. Geekie almost had a key goal midway through the third period but it was waved off due to goalie interference. Geekie made contact with Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer as he finished off the play in tight.

“I came in and lost my footing a little bit,” Geekie told reporters, per NESN postgame coverage. “There was a little bit of pressure on the back. The puck was around him I thought. I don’t know if he was going to get it regardless of what happened. But if they think there was contact there that hampered him from making the save then that’s what they see. I’m not the one making calls. It is what it is.”

— The Bruins return to Boston after their four-game road trip for one game Thursday against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.