Bruins’ Jim Montgomery Clarifies Tense Scene With Charlie McAvoy

The Bruins had a golden opportunity to gain breathing room Saturday night, but a costly mistake gave the Penguins new life.

Boston owned a 4-2 lead over Pittsburgh a few minutes into the third period when it found itself on the power play. The B’s tried to set something up from the blue line 40 seconds into the man advantage, but a Charlie McAvoy turnover sent the Penguins on the attack. Lars Eller dished a great feed to Logan O’Connor, who evaded Brad Marchand and beat Linus Ullmark’s glove side to make it a one-goal game.

After the goal, Jim Montgomery was spotted shouting at McAvoy on the bench. But after the game, which the Bruins claimed by a 6-4 verdict, Boston’s head coach revealed McAvoy wasn’t solely responsible for his ire.

“It wasn’t just Charlie,” Montgomery told reporters, per The Athletic. “It was me giving it to everybody on the power play. There was just no cohesion. The passing was off. I didn’t like the effort getting back after the turnover by everybody.”

It’s easy to understand why Montgomery was so heated. The Bruins are in the final stage of their preparation for the Stanley Cup playoffs, and veering away from good habits can be dangerous at this point of the season.

Boston will try to tighten things up across its final two games of the campaign. The B’s will visit the Washington Capitals on Monday before returning home to host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.