Jim Montgomery Takes Bill Belichick Approach To Bruins’ Close-Out Try

Jim Montgomery knows the Bruins have to continue to do their job if they want to keep playing for a Stanley Cup.

Boston took care of business in Toronto, beating the Maple Leafs in Games 3 and 4 to return home for Game 5 on Tuesday with an opportunity to close out their first-round series. Despite the seemingly commanding 3-1 series lead, Montgomery and the Bruins aren’t going to start to feel complacent.

If anything, Montgomery wants to drill home the little details, just like legendary Patriots coach Bill Belichick did during his dynastic run on the New England sports scene.

“To steal a line from Bill Belichick,” Montgomery told reporters after practice Monday in Boston, “the most important thing is to ignore the outside noise. We just focus on Toronto. We focus on what’s at hand Tuesday, staying in the moment (and) and focusing on our process that drives results.

“That’s where our mindset needs to be. Hopefully, that’s part of the experience we’ve learned from last year.”

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Therein lies the wrinkle in all of this. The Bruins are looking to right a wrong from a year ago. Boston found itself pretty much in the same position against the Panthers in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. The Bruins won three of the first four, including both in Florida, to go home with three chances (two on home ice) to close it out. The Panthers won all three, including two in overtime, and Boston’s historic regular season was for not.

That Panthers team is certainly different from this Toronto club. Florida hit its stride at the perfect time and went to the Stanley Cup Final. The Leafs, meanwhile, limped to the finish line and have battled injury, illness and apparent infighting just in this series alone.

That would be considered noise, though, and that’s what Montgomery — just like Belichick and the Patriots — hopes his team can avoid.

NESN’s Sean McGuire contributed to this report.