After yet another tough loss to the Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery didn’t hold back his frustration, taking aim at his top players for not fulfilling their roles. Speaking to reporters following practice on Tuesday, Montgomery made it clear that his concern extended beyond the team’s chemistry, zeroing in on their lackluster effort early in the season.
“Way more concerning, especially this early in the year,” Montgomery said after practice at Warrior Ice Arena. “You’re going to have stretches where you go 3-6-1 over 10 games. We went through it last year; our rough patch was in early December. You’ve got to find ways to fight out of it.”
Montgomery emphasized that the issue isn’t about building chemistry between new linemates but rather the team’s inconsistent effort levels. “Right now, it’s the effort level, the consistency of our effort level over chemistry, that’s hurting us, and that really affects our execution,” he explained.
Bruins star David Pastrnak echoed his coach’s sentiments, expressing his own frustration with the team’s underwhelming performance through the first four games. “The only frustration is that we know we’re a much better team than we’ve shown so far,” Pastrnak admitted. “We haven’t played great hockey yet. We’ve got two wins—deserved or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s hard to win in this league.”
Montgomery experimented with new line combinations during the loss to the Panthers, moving Brad Marchand alongside Matthew Poitras and Justin Brazeau, while Charlie Coyle dropped to a line with Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. Despite the changes, Montgomery made it clear that the fourth line of Johnny Beecher, Mark Kastelic, and Cole Koepke would remain intact, praising their performance.
The Bruins face a challenging three-game road trip against Western Conference opponents, starting with the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
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