Bruins
“It’s gonna stick with me ceaselessly. I believe we had the crew to win all of it.”
In his closing press convention of the 2022-23 season, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery took accountability for a number of the selections that performed into Boston’s beautiful first-round collapse in opposition to the Panthers.
However Boston’s bench boss additionally admitted that he didn’t have regrets over a few of his personnel strikes within the days main as much as his crew’s failed playoff run.
Montgomery echoed an identical sentiment final week in one among his first interviews after Boston’s 2022-23 season wrapped up.
During an extended interview on “The Raw Knuckles Podcast” with Chris “Knuckles” Nilan, Montgomery mentioned Boston’s crushing ending, his decision-making course of, and the teachings realized from his first season with the Bruins.
When requested about whether or not he regrets how the crew dealt with each Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci simply forward of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Montgomery caught to a well-recognized script.
“We don’t assume so,” Montgomery stated. “Internally, we had regarded – I believe Bergeron sat six of the final 18 video games, one thing like that. It was actually calculated, scientifically, of how we had been gonna get ourselves finest ready for Sport 1 of the playoffs. We set the information, that was nice, however we sat guys. We sat out 4 gamers one sport in Carolina and we gained it in a shootout. I believe it was Marchand, Lindholm, Bergeron, and possibly Orlov, I don’t bear in mind.
“However you’re sitting out 4 guys, you’re not going for the file. You’re going to set your self up for Sport 1 of the playoffs. We wished Krejci to play the final sport of the yr, however he was having points all year long. The quantity of apply time these guys sat out was … we don’t second-guess ourselves with what we did so far as that.”
After all, despite the fact that Boston did prescribe some relaxation for Bergeron over the ultimate weeks of regular-season play, he did play in Sport 82 in opposition to the Montreal Canadiens. In that finale, Bergeron herniated a disc in his again, forcing him to overlook 4 playoff video games and hampering his play in Video games 5-7 in opposition to the Panthers.
Past the choice to play Bergeron in Montreal, Montgomery acquired criticism for slotting him again into the lineup for Sport 5 regardless of the first-line middle’s harm. Regardless that Bergeron acknowledged that he was adequate to play, he was restricted to at least one level in his three playoff video games whereas posting a minus-6 ranking.
However Montgomery doesn’t have any regrets over letting Bergeron play in Sport 5 and past.
“I additionally don’t second-guess myself placing Bergeron in Sport 5,” Montgomery instructed Nilan. “Folks had been like, ‘Why don’t you simply save him for the second spherical?’ Might you think about what folks can be saying in the event that they knew I didn’t play Bergeron and he was wholesome Sport 5 and we misplaced? I imply, he scored.
“Sadly, it lingers with us what occurred. We personal it. We all know we misplaced to a superb crew in Florida – they’re within the finals – however we nonetheless had been up 3-1. You discover a method to shut that out. That’s the competitor in us, it’s laborious to let go. However we have now to maneuver ahead. Like what can we study from this? Particularly with our younger core gamers which might be gonna be right here a very long time. How can we all develop from this and guarantee that, no matter occurs within the common season, that the subsequent time we get to the playoffs, that we personal the second?”
As for classes realized, Montgomery famous that he’d ideally change up his defensive pairings in an effort to higher neutralize the Panthers, particularly as their forecheck began to put on Boston down because the collection continued.
However from behind the bench, Montgomery added that studying his participant’s physique language stands as one of many many abilities he’s trying to hone extra in his second yr with Boston in 2023-24.
“You take a look at these issues and taking a look at physique language — taking a look at guys’ eyes, wanting the second versus not wanting the second,” Montgomery stated. “I’ve performed some studying on some physique language stuff which may assist me as a coach,shifting ahead, however ultimately, we all know we didn’t get the job performed.
“And that stays with us. It’s gonna stick with me ceaselessly. I believe we had the crew to win all of it. And, for me, I’ve all the time felt I’ve been in a position to speak about that final third of the yr. Get my crew to play its finest at an important time. And I failed the method.”
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