By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
Jim Montgomery didn’t have the answers. Not after the Boston Bruins failed to record a shot on Ottawa Senator Linus Ullmark in the third period, falling just 21 seconds left into overtime. Boston was outshot, 34-16, on Saturday night in what was another unimaginable low point that the 2024-25 Bruins have succumbed to.
Montgomery didn’t like the Bruins’ pair of unsuccessful power play attempts. Did that play a role in the performance the Bruins put forth five-on-five? No answer. After Boston’s second power play opportunity came up empty, the Bruins went the entire third period without a shot, and really without any offensive cohesion or togetherness.
“Our lack of execution on the power play was not good enough to generate any kind of scoring chances,” Montgomery said after the 3-2 loss at TD Garden. “I don’t know if that fed into the third period and our lack of a better choice of words, intensity.”
So how do the Bruins address it? Montgomery reiterated that he didn’t have that answer just minutes removed from the loss.
“Talk about it,” he said of what they plan to do. “We’ll look at what we’re doing sports science-wise, and we’ll come up with answers. Right now I don’t have an answer for you.”
He told reporters that he doesn’t believe his players aren’t conditioned, and he isn’t citing lack of conditioning as a precursor to Boston’s lack of offense. He concluded his 91-second presser by telling the media to “come up with a reason” and that the Bruins are “just not playing good enough.”
So, what did the team have to say about their effort on Saturday? Pavel Zacha said it all started on the forecheck. That would probably be a reasonable place to start. The Bruins held some possession time with the puck in the third, but even when they did, they lost the ensuing battle in the corner to eventually send the play moving the other way. They also struggled to give Ottawa any trouble on the breakout.
“We didn’t create any stops on our forechecks…if you don’t win those battles and you don’t check well, it doesn’t really matter. You don’t win games,” he said.
Jeremy Swayman, meanwhile, cited identity. The Bruins aren’t closing out games, and he thinks it’s problematic. The Bruins had problems with closing out individual periods on Saturday, allowing a power play goal with eight seconds left in the first period and another tally with under three minutes to play in the second period. The former provided the Senators with a 1-0 lead, while the latter knotted the contest at two.
“I think every game is different. I think we need to look in the mirror and close out games as a strength of ours. That’s an identity thing, and that’s going to be taken care of,” said Swayman.
Are the Bruins not hungry enough? David Pastrnak brought up the idea of not making an effort to get more pucks to the net as one of the issues playing a role in Boston’s woes. He even admitted he probably should have shot the puck on an odd-man rush with Mark Kastelic.
“You obviously want to score goals and obviously get your offense going, and right now they aren’t going in…we have to start working on it and we have to get to the net and put the pucks there at the right times,” said Pastrnak.
Is lack of chemistry playing a role? Pastrnak doesn’t think so, who’s shuffled between a hodgepodge of different linemates this season. Tyler Johnson started on the left wing with Pastrnak on Saturday but was later substituted by Brad Marchand when the wheels began to fall off in the third frame.
“We are all NHL players and on the one team here,” Pastrnak said. “We all know each other and we know what the guy next to you can do. I have no problem with finding chemistry with anyone on the team.”
Brad Marchand, like the rest of the Bruins, is frustrated by the team’s 7-7-2 start to the season. But he’s not hitting the panic button just yet, and rightfully so.
“Nobody can write the perfect script of how things are going to play out,” said Marchand. “We just got to take it day by day, and obviously you want to get better and you want to try and improve every day, but it’s just not happening right now.”
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