Don Sweeney Offers ‘Bottom Line’ About What Bruins Must Fix

There are plenty of areas which the Boston Bruins must improve in as they move on from Jim Montgomery and hand the reins to interim head coach Joe Sacco.

To Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, it comes back to doing a vital basic on the ice.

Sweeney feels the Bruins need to — at the minimum — make it tougher on the opposition, which comes down to outworking teams. And if that happens, then the results the Bruins want could follow.

“I still believe in the players themselves being able to work their way back to the level, and that’s going to be determined,” Sweeney told reporters Wednesday. “It does start right from Day 1 in camp and practices and how you hold yourself to a standard that we need to do a better job of. It’s always been part of this organization since I’ve been a part. When we were bad during my time as a player, we had gotten away from it, and there was a redirection and a refocus and getting back to that level — and being a hard out.

“The bottom line is we’re not a hard out right now. We’re self-destructing at periods of time and we need to be a harder out, and that’s a testament to what the fan base expects.”

Boston’s energy has been questioned at times this season with Sweeney saying the Bruins were “flat” starting in training camp.

Sweeney saw throughout this month opponents run away with wins over the Bruins. The Toronto Maple Leafs shut out Boston, 4-0, and two out of their last three losses have come by a five-goal margin. There was also a nightmare 8-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Halloween.

Those losses stood out as uncharacteristic, and it will be up to Sacco and company to get the Bruins back to their identity of being the harder-working team for 60 minutes.